A Foregone Conclusion?
by TiberianSun371Alexw
Summary: A downer ending based on chapter 5 of the first LN (but not the same events of course). Author's note: I'll get back to my other stories. Sorry about being... late
1. The Empire Falls

Written By: TiberianSun371Alexw

Proofread by: PervySageChuck

The Empire Falls

1930

Kaiser Charles X von Hapsburg (some detractors say von Hapsburg-Lorraine-Wessex-Lombardi, but every time a female von Hapsburg ruler married a male noble, the male adopted his father-in-law's name) browsed through reports from 30 different generals. The reports were grim. Over 70% of the Empire's territory was occupied by enemy forces. The forces of the Republic, Entente, Dakia, Iloda, Russy Federation, and several non-European countries were carving their way toward Berun. The Rhine frontier had collapsed. Dakia's outdated infantry division plus 3,000 Entente troops were pushing against the southern border. The Entente had captured Holstein.

Dakia, the Republic, and the Entente presented a united negotiation table. Once these terms had been agreed to, they could easily get the Americans and the Russians to join the peace talks. Unfortunately, the terms they offered in their various proposals were quite bitter.

The first was an absolute joke. It called for the release of many territories, Charles von Hapsburg's abdication, the reeducation of Imperial civilians, and outrageous war reparations. It also demanded that every Imperial mage be turned over to Republican custody and the loss of prisoner of war status, as the Republic did not recognize the Empire's right to existence. Charles X von Hapsburg of the Empire was nothing more than Charles X of Austria, Croatia, and Hungary as far as they were concerned. And why would he call himself Charles X of a country when he was the third of them, they might have asked.

Following the rejection of peace, there were several revolutions. The July revolution instituted a Republican form of government, Westminster style in the Northern part of the Empire, forcing Charles to flee to Vienna, his ancestral home. The September revolution put the communists in charge.

The second peace offer was also rejected. The Republic demanded reparation, the custody of 25% of Imperial mages, and to allow every Republican officer to take a spouse from the Empire. The most ridiculous part was that he would have to commit 1/8 of the forces still loyal to him and all his mages to fight the Socialist North German Federation, the short lived breakaway revolutionary regime out of his control. As much as Charles detested leftist movements, the idea of using his own forces to fight Imperials was absurd. And they would not be fighting for his control, but to partition the north between the Republic, Entente, and Russy Federation. If Charles von Hapsburg was going to have men loyal to him die in the trenches, they might as well do so against his enemies, not for them.

The October revolution brought what can be best described as a pan-Slavic reign of terror. 50,000 German Imperials were executed for… not much. Plenty of others were executed for not supporting the new regime of anti-revolutionary ideology. It was strange that a minority in the empire would take control and be openly hostile to a majority that made over 75% of the population. Propaganda stated the Berun government was not anti-German, but merely trying to root out communist and royalist sympathizers that just happened to be German speaking citizens. Surprisingly, while the public did not approve of the new regime, they did buy that the new regime was not after the majority. The military continued to fight on all fronts while suppressing dissent. A contingent even went to Hapsburg controlled Croatia and helped the royalists on the Southern front while some of their counterparts were half-heartedly fighting royalist forces in the Black Forest.

Charles von Hapburg gambled that the new regime lacked any semblance of legitimacy among the population. After all, a royalist party would have won 75% of the parliament in July only to be disqualified because the revolution's constitution forbade any pro-royalist sentiment. The revolution took masses of angry violent mobs, and most royalists that were not in the military didn't want to die for the monarchy. He gathered 3,000 of his cavalry forces and marched towards his capital of Berun, counting on speed more than force. His agents started royalist uprisings in Leipzig, Cologne, Berun and Dresden. The uprisings dissolved into chaos as the army and trade union militia tried to suppress them. Revolutionaries started looting and a seven way fight began in the cities, resulting in royalists either fleeing to the countryside or lying down in terror. Charles' own forces were stopped by a division sent to apprehend him. Despite fighting royalist forces in the battle of Budapest, the division did not contest Charles. Three platoons and several officers defected to him and he galloped towards Berun.

In Berun, Charles was nearly killed. His forces faced military units fighting for the Berun government and party militia. While the enemy faced hourly desertions as professional soldiers threw down their arms, he was still outnumbered. The trade unions threw in their lot with the Berun government thinking they could restart the communist revolution. His cavalry forces were whittled to 750 men.

The turning point for the November restoration was when General Kurt von Rudersdorf and Lieutenant General Tanya von Degurechaff threw in their support for the Kaiser. Rudersdorf brought another 35,000 troops to his side, although they had trouble fighting. The trade union militia fought with partisan tactics and Rudersdorf was unwilling to use artillery. Some military units also continued to fight for the Berun government, fearing reprisals for following orders from the communist Berun government. In actuality, they would have probably been spared since they did not side with them during any of the revolutions. Tanya Degurechaff had left the frontline from Kongsberg, leaving her three infantry divisions, an artillery brigade, and the mage battalion to continue the Eastern Front. The Berun government expected to overpower her easily. While the Elenium Type-95 was known to give Tanya power, they had 32 mages committed to their revolution and dozens of those "trapped" into serving them much as Roman Legion I Germanica was forced into ranks of the rebels in The Year of the Four Emperors. Even Tanya knew that she could not overpower the Berun mages, even at full strength. The sudden switching sides from the Berun to the von Hapsburg faction meant she spent considerable energy arriving.

The mages ideologically compatible with the revolution had some dissatisfaction with Kaiser Charles X, but they fought loyally for the Empire. Like most that had some sympathy for the October revolution, their main thoughts were that it was the existing military establishment that compromised plan 315. In other words, it was because they thought the majority had mismanaged the country and they participated in the revolution for the love of their country not their hatred of their neighbors. The Junker nobility was ethnically biased. While the Empire did not differentiate ethnicity from commoner to commoner or nobleman to nobleman, all nobles spoke German. For a commoner Imperial to be granted nobility, one had to impress the Kaiser or someone with a title to spare, had to speak fluent German and it was said that almost all of them had spoken German as a first language. Tanya Degurechaff said rather cryptically if the sentiment were true, it would have to be amended to "primary language" rather than "first language" as she was granted nobility.

The Berun mages and Tanya floated around having an awkward standoff. The hundred or so started at Tanya. Even those sympathetic to the revolution had too much respect for Lieutenant General Tanya Degurechaff. They had joined the revolution because they considered the majority needed to be taught how to run a country, not due to hatred of German Imperials. When Tanya was a Lieutenant, she had fought to the death against an entire company of mages despite being a novice at combat. Her dedication to orders and her loyalty to the Fatherland had saved many Imperial lives. She was like a fairy of the battlefield.

Tanya radioed locations of troop movement to Rudersdorf. She didn't dare break the standoff by giving combat. Within three hours, fighting had reached the palace. Tanya had convinced many Berun soldiers to lay down their arms rather than fight the Kaiser. The restoration was complete.

Kaiser Charles X von Hapsburg now inherited a mess on the throne. During the three revolutions, over 36,000 royalist troops were killed in direct fighting against the three Berun revolutionary regimes. This was smaller than those suffered in the Southern Front by combat during that same time period. This number was dwarfed by other casualties. Dysentery ran rampant and many troops died from overheating in the winter due to poor management. Starvation ensued as some troops were shipped to the north with mobilization plans assuming the Empire unified. Some were killed by derailed trains. During the revolutions, 70% of the troops were committed interiorly. Despite the foreign mage threats largely neutralized, air superiority was insufficient to stop the onslaught.

The third peace offer demanded the dissolution of the Empire, large reparations, the banning of cavalry and non-Mediterranean navy by successor states of the Empire, and the custody of all "Named" imperial mages. Once again, Charles X rejected the offer. The German and Hungarian groups wanted to continue fighting to the death while most of the Polish Imperials, now proclaiming their loyalty to the Kaiser and that the revolutionaries were false prophets, asked for peace.

Knowing of the success against Dakia early in the war, Charles X ordered 7 separate battalions of mages to attack different infantry divisions. Four on the Rhine Front, one to the north, one to the south, and one to counterattack a division approaching Kongsberg. Surprisingly, Lieutenant General Tanya Degurechaff objected. Tanya said that while the enemy's technology had not significantly changed since the beginning of the war, massed infantry formations had altered tactics making anti-air formations more effective, using bolt action rifles to synchronized firing on targets and overpowering shields. While losses would be inevitable, even a battalion on battalion fight would not leave the mages without casualties. In her own words, if the Dakian Army used those same tactics early in the war, she would only be able to rout one division without suffering losses. The routing of all three would be possible, but only due to Tanya's presence, not the battalion's strength. Another problem was that only the Kongsberg battalion was battle tested, three of the others were new formations of reorganized men of a mix of those who saw a single battle and those who did not, and three battalions were not only new formations but completely made of recruits. A third objection was that Tanya was being redeployed to the Rhine Front for the third time as a frontline general to lead the 3rd infantry division and its attached mage units. Major Viktoriya Ivanovna Serebryakov was in charge the 203rd mage battalion, the one at Kongsberg supporting the divisions Tanya was leaving. Tanya didn't believe First Lieutenant Serebryakov was ready for the responsibilities for a double promotion, but Lieutenant Wilibald Koenig turned down the job. Three attempts by Tanya to get outside officers to lead the 203rd failed as over a year they fell to food poisoning, dysentery, and combat.

The operation was undertaken as planned, the mages needed to travel for more than an hour to reach their targets. The one against the Entente was beaten back with heavy casualties from the infantry division that attacked and a single supporting mage intelligence had missed. One of the Rhine front attempts resulted in a magical barrage and suffered light casualties, but they had to withdraw to replenish manna, leaving the advance merely delayed. Most others ended in Pyrrhic Victories, the target infantry division sent into retreating, but with many Imperial casualties. A group of 30 Imperial cavalry did follow up on one of these battles, took 100 prisoners and spiked some heavy guns before withdrawing. The Kongsberg battalion did the best, with only 7 casualties while forcing a rout. Three from the original battalion and one replacement were outright killed. Two replacements were shot down in enemy territory and lost. One was shot down in enemy territory and returned the next week, with a lame leg. The replacements who survived 3 or more battles were nearly as good as Tanya's personally trained soldiers, but until then the quality was lower.

For a month, Lieutenant General Degurechaff brought some hope, recapturing the Imperial city of Strasbourg. A counterattack by the Republic and Americans resulted in over 45,000 enemy casualties while Degurechaff only lost 13,000, plus some troops who were routed back to the east of the Rhine. This only left a hundred defenders, but with the enemy in chaos, it was hoped the city could be held for another 32 days before withdrawing.

Terms were offered once more. Charles X could stay on as Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and King of Croatia. The Republic, in the past, had never acknowledged the Empire's unification and considered its very existence an abnormality. The Empire would be subject to the principal of European self-determination, the idea that Europeans had the right to their own cultural and political development. The large island chain off the coast of California, triple the landmass of the Empire's European lands proper, was to be ceded to America. The successor states, including Austria-Hungary-Croatia, would be responsible for reparations based on urban population size at the time the ink dried on the final peace accord. Each successor state would be limited on mage quantities. A quota made of one third the number of surviving mages would be divided between successor states based on total population. Austria was exempt but could not recruit mages that were not natural born Austrians. The reparations were lower than all three previous offers and 1/3000 that of the first, but still fairly stiff. The Empire before its dissolution would help America with its eugenics program.

PR note: The yellow highlighted sentence is basically the same as the final sentence in this paragraph. This redundancy is unnecessary. And the last sentence sounds much better than the highlighted sentence.

The most offending offer was that the Republic wanted custody of 31 Imperial mages without prisoner of war protection. They supplied the magical signatures of the relevant mages. Charles X von Hapsburg could tolerate demands to hand over most of them. 16 of the mages were known of have communist sympathies and hid conspirators of the September revolution once the restoration happened, claiming that they were loyal but the revolutionaries didn't need to be punished. 7 of them were very elitist, thinking that as mages they were superior to mana-blind humans. Coincidentally, all 7 had committed burglary before being conscripted. 4 of them had participated in the July revolution that overthrew Charles. And three of them had all of these problems to boot!

While it could be argued those mages were expendable, the problem was the last mage they demanded be handed over. The magical signature matched Lieutenant General Tanya von Degurechaff, Silver Wings Assault medal recipient. Objectively, saving Austria, the Hapsburg heartland, was worth the sacrifice of one soldier or even an officer, no matter how talented. The fact that Tanya's sacrifice would stop the famine, (because food production is not where the consumption is and too many rivals were being used by the military), decrease the reparations to the winning side, and ease social tensions were bonuses. Early in her career, a Pogue, or a Rear Echelon Motherfucker as Americans would say, made the correct choice by giving Tanya a suicidal order. There was a 30% chance to protect 750 artillery pieces and their crews. Even if the artillery unit at risk was a third of its size, it was still the correct call to sacrifice a mage with some experience, much less a novice to buy time. The stakes were larger than ever now.

Yet Charles X von Hapsburg could not bring himself to do it. He had met the girl personally only 3 times, once after his restoration. While Tanya was 16, she was small for her age, even as a female. He remembered seeing the pre-cut recording of her first propaganda recording. It started three minutes before the cut that was release. A female employee brushed Tanya's long blond hair. She wore a red puffy skirt that managed to show legs when she sat down. The dress had large loose fitting shoulder covers. Her hands wore white gloves. A black bow donned the front of the red dress. For a second, it appeared Tanya was uncomfortable with the situation, with her eyes somewhat in distress, her sitting awkward, and her hands in her lap. This was quickly replaced by a blank look in her azure blue eyes. She stood up, the chair was taken away, and someone put on a red beret. Tanya smiled. It was at this point the video released to the public was cut. "I'm 'White Silver' Tanya Degurechaff" was the line she opened the propaganda interview with. Charles's heart melted.

Tanya was basically a Loli, looking even younger than Charles's eldest daughter Cornelia. Over the past three years since he first saw Tanya, her growth was 1 cm, 1 cm, and… oh another cm in height. Cornelia had long blond hair too. If anything, Tanya was probably cuter, retaining some childish features. Every time Charles X thought about sacrificing Tanya, the thought of Cornelia came to his mind.

Lieutenant General Tanya von Degurechaff stepped off the train in Berun. Activity was buzzing and one wouldn't know there was a war going on if one didn't speak German. The most obvious sign of problem was a large number of corpses from the latest plague. There were other subtle hints. Almost all the men were gone. Ever since the July revolution, the Empire had gone from a draft lottery to picking off as many able bodied men as they could and the Kaiser had not revered this policy. The mood of the capital was melancholic. Tanya's first destination was the Akitsushima Imperium embassy.

"Hello ambassador Shinotsuki. How is work?" said Tanya in awkward Japanese.

"Hi, Tanya-chan! We just have lots of paperwork fromin the past year. It didn't help that over 70% were killed in the revolutions. Only the British embassy was spared." said the ambassador, while patting Tanya's head.

"Do you have any sushi, mocha, miso soup or other food?" said Tanya in her cute voice.

"I'm sorry. The Allied British Kingdom finally mediated a system where other embassies can bring in food, but we can't give any food to Imperials, not even duel citizens. But don't worry, you have a high salary, you can easily buy food despite the shortages like sausage and sauerkraut. The Republic argues that any food to civilians means less people will starve and more civilians can produce military goods." said ambassador Shinotsuki.

"This is untrue. Until recently, the Kaiser rejected a total war footing, and allowed much of the economy to produce civilian goods, although it is just as well since it seems it wouldn't have changed much. The problem is the whole world is against the Empire. Also, we have enough nitrogen for fertilizer and explosives, unlike Imperial Germany, where the problem for the Empire is that the railroads and roads can't deal with the increased demand for movement while suffering from a reduced capacity." said Tanya.

"Imperial Germany? Is that local slang for the North?" askedsaid the ambassador.

"It doesn't mean anything. I have a meeting to go to, ambassador." said Tanya.

The ambassador waved Tanya off. It was a shame the little girl was a general. Likely, the only reason this occurred was due to casualties piling up among their officer corps than any ability to command. A once proud nation starving off at the end. Even the neutrality of Akitsushima Imperium and the semi-neutrality of the Allied Kingdom didn't help with practically the whole world bearing down on the Hapsburg domains. No one would have thought the marriage of Charles III of Prussia and Maria Theresa of Austria would have ended in the new state dying to the Republic, the successor state to Frankia which Austria always danced around.

Tanya Degurechaff did not know why she was summoned to meet Kaiser Charles X von Hapsburg. Her new unit needed her. It would take at least three months to turn the situation around. At that point, she might need to go back to defend Kongsberg. While Imperial mages had dominated the skies, the ground was being lost. At least three times Tanya had left on successful sorties only to find that her camp was overrun while she was gone, forcing her to fly some distance back and depleting even more of her stamina. One time she nearly collapsed to the ground and had to pray to Being X to bring Elenium Type-95 orb to full power merely to keep flying. Tanya hoped she was finally going to end up with a cushy desk job instead of being a frontline general, but the desperate situation made that seem unlikely. There was also the strange situation of her coming into the throne room instead of a quiet meeting room in the palace.

Tanya entered the large throne room. The Kaiser was sitting on the throne and looking miserable. She walked 100 meters forward to face him. At 172 cm, he wasn't particularly tall, but did tower above Tanya like nearly all the adults did. The large arm, pectoral, and hip muscles showed through his loose robes. His blond hair had been given a flattop cut. His mustache just looked silly. Some guards escorted onlookers, since this was usually a publically available room, away.

"Are you willing to die for the Fatherland?" said Charles X von Hapsburg rather bluntly.

"This might surprise you, your majesty, but I would rather not. To fight for and kill is one thing, and my first mission I followed an order that was probably suicide. But probable death with a chance of success is different than dying." said Tanya. She didn't exactly know how to deal with Charles. One part of her wanted to treat him like another military superior, one to be impressed. Another part of her thought playing the innocence card would work better. She talked the way she did with Major Maximilian Johann von Ugar, using her normal voice but trying to subtly imply she was out of place in the face of danger.

"Here are the terms the republic wants," said Charles X.

Tanya pored over the document. Tanya had a bad feeling about this. "The magical signature of the mages they are asking for. Am I…" said Tanya.

"Yes." said Charles.

"How much longer can the Empire sustain the war?" said Tanya.

"With you, I'd say 37 months. Without you as a mage, tactician, and logistician, 11 at most." said Charles.

Tanya immediately started calculating her options. Desertion was always out. She would never be accepted by the enemy, and even if Tanya wasn't executed, she would be a social pariah on both sides. Since The Republic didn't recognize The Empire's right to exist, any non-Austrians were likely to not get any rights as prisoners of war. She already knew of at least 30 incidents where Imperials stupid enough to accept unconditional surrender had many in the party executed, once as much as 75%. The best option might be to play along and prepare for escape once the inevitable life sentence came.

Charles X von Hapsburg looked at her sadly. This was a girl who did the most valorous fighting action in the battle that started the whole war. A child who was a capable mage and intelligent enough to lead. Tanya was filled with loyalty to the Empire, and now as Emperor he was basically saying her reward was being sold off to wolves. He wondered what the little girl was thinking. Perhaps she was wondering why the Lord would have rewarded her hard work, loyalty, and piety with this. Tanya looked at Charles with a pitiful face. If she said no, he couldn't accept the terms.

"Can I enjoy life for a few weeks before the end?" said Tanya.

"Of course, my child!" said Charles X von Hapsburg.

Tanya was annoyed at the meeting. For the purpose of average happiness, the Kaiser was right to sacrifice her to save hardships against the rest of the country. But Tanya didn't care about the mean welfare so much as her own. But the most responsible part of it was Being X. Being X had turned practically the whole world against Tanya. In the end, even the Kaiser she had worked so loyally for, even for non-altruistic or patriotic motives, was going to abandon her. The only time she wavered was when she followed the revolutionary Berun governments. Tanya actually tried to stop the first one, abandoning the front lines and hoping to get in the Kaiser's favor, but she arrived too late and the capital was taken. In successive revolutions, she did what most military officers on the front did, which was to blindly follow orders from Berun, whoever happened to control it. There was no way Being X could be God.

Ironically, maneuvering herself into the best light of her superiors had provided more of a challenge than the foes Tanya had once fought, who had not provided much threat to her safety while she was awake. Her skill and speed were usually enough to let her get the better of the situation on nearly every one vs. one as well as countless other situations, and the Elenium Type-95 made her functionally undefeatable as long as her base was secure. But a mage would have to come to the ground eventually and with the Empire losing the war, Tanya could see the writing on the wall.

Tanya immediately raided the intelligence department. The Empire had managed to make extensive documentation on many structures. Tanya immediately narrowed down structures which could be feasibly used as a prison. The fact that the attacking forces did not trust the Russy Federation meant many buildings could also be eliminated.

Likely they would use a mana inhibitor. These large devices were connected to hand shackles and typically were put on a horse cart. The best ones basically stopped a mage from using magic for the duration of the restraint and 168 hours afterwards. This was followed by a 2 hour period where magic use slowly comes back. This meant that any breakout attempt would have to take place using structural flaws or external help.

An inhibitor merely 1% lighter than the best devices had only an hour of cooldown time. Furthermore, below a certain weight, mana inhibitors simply didn't work. Since the best inhibitors for instantaneous stoppage had 75% of the weight as those that lasted a while week, it seemed wise to use the week long inhibitor. Stopping a mage from casting more than 172 hours after no longer being in physical contact with an inhibitor was also impractical.

There is a legend about a mage who was able to cast immediately after his inhibitor was removed. Since the enemy would not want to take that risk, Tanya would likely have the shackles on at all times. Due to the large device, this will further limit the possibilities of where she would likely be imprisoned.

There was also the issue of financial assets. The Allied British Kingdom was often shortened to The Allied Kingdom, but the demonym was oddly still British. An exchange of the Reichsmark for British pounds was going to be necessary. Tanya would need funds if she didn't want to end up destitute.

After a few days, Tanya had established what she had intended to do. All she needed was a few mage conspirators. She contacted Viktoriya and told her about the plans. Tanya then moved on to establish a backup plan. She had made a magic capsule and linked it to seven glass orbs. If the capsule was bitten, the orbs would light for a few hours before burning out. If the capsule was swallowed, gastric juices would break it within an hour and the orbs would light. Nothing fancy like a message that could be sent by Morse code, but a single "Get me out. Damn the consequences!" signal.

Finally Tanya tried her best to relax and live with comfort and pleasure. It was only going to be a matter of time. History more or less matched what she knew up to 1530, except a notable failed Polish contribution to the Third Crusade and a larger Third Crusade in general. Then magic was discovered and not much else looked right in Europe and changes in Europe propagated little by little across the world. History got closer in the 1760s both in Europe and Americas, then starting going off again after the American Revolution which succeeded despite British mage superiority. At this time spells were somewhat unwieldy, required a relatively stationary mage, and flying faster than walking was impractical. Things looked closer in the Napoleonic wars, which surprised Tanya. By this point, none of the European monarchs were those she knew in her past life. After Napoleon Bonaparte retired, history started going wrong again, for starters making peace with Austria and Great Britain after only three wars. Capital cities and countries were renamed over the next three decades, but most places retained their names, like the city of Worms. And Japan renamed itself after contact with the west. Ming China was supposed to have fallen to the Manchu, but the Manchu invasion was only a sacking of northern cities probably due to English backing of the host regime.

Since history was all off by 1900, it didn't seem like it would be anything like Tanya once knew. However she was somewhat skeptical about that. While there was no gas warfare, there were two candidates that could have been similar to a war she knew. The Empire- Republic War of 1914 was a quick imperial victory during her childhood. The war she was in appeared to be on a route to tragedy.

The Treaty of Copenhagen brought an end to the Empire. An administrative unit would be used in place of the Empire while a transition was made. The Republic had never acknowledged the right of the Empire to exist as a unified state. All three previous wars ended with the mediation of the Allied Kingdom, a country both sides acknowledged and could sign treaties with.

Baden, Bavaria, Württemberg, Cleves, Oldenburg, Ansebach (their rough historical regions) and Prussia (this one larger than historical Prussia) were spat out as independent republics. Czechoslovakia was a new addition to anyone but Tanya and seemed to be based on old Bohemia to some extent. The creation of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and Serbia was also at the expense of their lands. Of the colonies in the pacific, they were released. Somalia was ceded to the British, Ghana to the Republic, and the Transvaal region became independent. Somlia was actually a front of Imperial victories and the negotiators insisted it not be given to Republican control. America took the island chain. Austria, Hungary, Brandenburg, and Croatia were still tied with a monarch in the form of Charles X. The Lorraine region and Hapsburg Netherlands, once dynastic strongholds, were given to the Republic. In truth, even before the war, the Netherlands was de facto out of Imperial control. Dakia was given control of the Greater Romanian region, every chunk of territory that was 75% Romanian speaking was gained. Denmark, a demilitarized disputed region, was given back to the Entente.

Reparations would have to be paid out. The city of Kongsberg would have a three day period where any occupying soldiers could treat any citizen there as a brothel worker even if they were not actually a brothel worker. As this pretty much happened when the city fell in the actual war, the cynical observer claimed this merely extended an existing situation. The Empire successor states would have to cooperate on American eugenics, whatever that meant. Restrictions on mages were placed on the militaries.

All military mages were forbidden to travel without approval of occupation forces. Occupation forces would not leave until the 31 mages were found and the reparations paid. Until the mages were found, the republic could even go to areas they had not occupied during the war to find mages. Records were to be handed over to the occupiers.

The successor states would take responsibility for turning a border conflict into a huge war. The first 3,000 military casualties on the Rhine front were Republicans and no Imperials. The first shot fired was from the Empire. The first mage killed was a Republican mage. The minor issue of the Republic rushing in many divisions into Imperial territory without a declaration of war and that they knocked out border guards was not noted on the documentation of the peace treaty.

Previously the Reichsmark was one of the highest value currencies of the world, worth 3018 British pounds. Charles X von Hapsburg paid off 2/3 of the total reparations using his personal funds as a monarch, even though it was understood he could tax the subjects and Austria wasn't even responsible for all the payments. He did this as a gesture of goodwill, relieving some burden. The reparations still needed to be paid. The treaty forced all successor states to use the Reichsmark, printed in Vienna now instead of Berun, or British pounds. Charles X knew that 2/3 of Reichsmark in circulation were actually held outside of the Empire's successor states. So what could go wrong with printing some marks and buying gold to pay off reparations? After all, the monarchy did not actually hold much and most of the noble classes have wealth died up in land and gold. The successor states could not object and Austria's portion of the debt could be repaid faster.

One month after the peace treaty and Tanya Degurechaff could tell things were going downhill. In Berun, Republic of Prussia, the politicians were already paralyzing the government. The diseases of the war decimated the populations. Railroad capacity was only 30% of prewar capacity. But the worst part was that society appeared to be crumbling.

Inflation was running rampant, around 30% daily and accelerating. A lot of commoners could not actually use the currency in the past for daily transactions as the smallest unit was too large, instead buying credits at local consortiums which were used to pay for some goods. After all, it was over 3018 of them for a British pound, a currency which had similar value to what Tanya thought of in her past life… the pound of the 1800s.

Farmers were the largest net debtors, for many of them had taken out loans. Factory owners on the other hand, generally had little credit during the war. But even the farmers started to suffer the ill effects of hyperinflation even despite their prewar debts being wiped out. It didn't help that many sons had died in the war.

People looked for others to blame. Tanya thought that Being X would make a "stab in the back myth", but in this case, the army really was stabbed in the back by revolutionaries. Most egregiously, 75% of the Polish speaking Imperial units had participated in both the July and October revolutions. Only one officer in that group stayed loyal to the Charles X the whole time, although Tanya couldn't say much about true loyalty. Not only was she lacking in that sentiment, but her actions were similar to many of the generals who obeyed whoever controlled Berun. The Social Democrats, the communists and the nationalists, had all contributed to the problem.

But in fact, the war wasn't going too well even before the revolutions. The seven Chinese states launched a major offensive in the Republic. Although over 3.1 million casualties were suffered by the attackers, this greatly weakened the Imperial army. Just as they had gotten out of trench warfare and gotten into maneuverer warfare with the Republicans and Americans not being able to rebuild defensive trenches in time, the offensive stopped the Imperials cold. There was also the problem of the Americans being just a little bit too eager to die for their cause. Tanya assessed the situation to be similar to the English in the Hundred Years War, Austria early in the War of Austria Succession, and South Vietnam after the Easter offensive. In all cases, the war was still winnable, but it wasn't going well and they appeared to be the underdog. And except for Austria, all lost. Even Austria arguably lost due to the loss of Silesia preventing Austria from repaying the war debts. So while the "stab in the back" happened, it was more like twisting a knife in someone already wounded.

Not that this didn't keep people from playing the blame game. In Bavaria it was claimed by some local parties that Jews were responsible for the communists due to the 75% who showed up to vote electing communists during the parliamentary period. In Prussia and Oldenburg, some cities started having anti-Catholic sentiments, despite Catholics making up a majority of those countries, albeit not in the cities. Educated noblemen and noblewomen knew better. For one thing, the July elections were a bit of a joke, and most Imperials didn't even vote, so blaming a demographic for a bad election that wasn't even the cause of the September revolution was a bit of a stretch. The Catholic sentiment seemed to come from a pedophile priest being caught, despite both the Church and its followers being more law abiding during the chaos. In fact, that priest was the only member of the Catholic Church organization that committed a crime during the entire war.

In at least three cities, Tanya was jeered on for supposedly being a Catholic. In one city, she was said to have sold herself out to the democrats. In all cases, Imperial veterans immediately stood up for her. At least the military and intellectuals knew the blame game got people nowhere. Most of the rural farmers were also less inflammatory. And the people of Berun still respected Tanya. Tanya was living a fairly high comfortable life, but she needed to end the suffering if Prussia was to remain stable. She would have to make a phone call.

"This is Charles X von Hapsburg. How do you know this number? Only my closest advisors do." said Kaiser Charles X von Hapsburg.

"This is Lieutenant General Tanya Degurechaff. Stop printing money." said Tanya.

"But at the end of the war, most notes were outside the Empire. What's wrong?" said Charles.

Tanya kept her voice calm but altered her tone as she described the direct effects of hyperinflation on the common folk. No need to talk about the blame game.

"OK, I'll continue printing for 3 more years in the quartic fashion. Tomorrow I'll print 8 times as much as today. Two days from now will be 27 times. In four days, it will be 125 times what is made today" said Charles X.

"Won't that speed up the problem?" said Tanya, shocked.

"No, today is actually a slow day, much lower than the past rate of printing. If I continue that pattern for 3 years, there will only be 30% more notes in circulation that today. In contrast, you said the prices went up 30% daily?"

"Yes. How many British pounds are left in your treasury?" said Tanya.

"Aside from personal expenses? I cut down my living expense 70%. Ahh… Let's see. Before printing we would have had 3021 pounds for every Reichsmark. If we have more marks in exactly the way I print as planned, that's 3001 pounds for every 3000 marks" said Charles X.

"If that's what you have to do, do it. 30% more over 3 years and then stoppage is better than 30% a day. The velocity of money will increase rapidly as people spend. I suggest you put in a peg of one pound to one mark after you stop printing. The market value of the mark will likely be lower than that, but you have enough pounds to cover it, right?" said Tanya.

"I assure you I do, my child" said Charles X.

"Do it" said Tanya. She hung up the phone. Back to the comfortable life while everyone was suffering? This wasn't too bad, although if her salary wasn't adjusted for inflation, this could be trouble as she covered her past earnings but not her future ones to gold and pounds. They were well hidden because she had a feeling her freedom would not last long.

One week later, Tanya got a knock on the door. It was a Republican Lieutenant. "Tanya von Degurechaff? You're under arrest for War Crimes." said the man.


	2. Trial By Moraliry

Trial by Morality

Tanya Degurechaff was held under house arrest in a barracks in Hungary. As she had anticipated, she was shacked to a mana inhibitor. Whenever they moved her, seven guards picked it up and dragged it along. She was free to move around the barracks, she just needed to summon those to pick up the heavy inhibitor.

Tanya sat down on a bed. The room was comfortable, with a window view of a nice countryside. The bed was large and comfortable. The inhibitor had a 7 meter chain leading to a joint. The joint was connected to 2 separate meter long chains, one connecting to a shackle around each wrist. A third chain from the join was 30 cm and was attached to some tough elastic around her waist. Tanya knew whatever this material was, the elastic would not break even with a thousand kilograms of material being pulled by gravity. It wasn't amenable to cutting either. Still, there was plenty of room to move and this wasn't too uncomfortable.

Tanya had anticipated three visitors. Sure enough, they showed up on the clockwork. The first was a blond girl with a round face slender waist and curved hips. "Hello General Degurechaff!" said Major Viktoriya Ivanovna Serebryakov. Tanya looked up as the door opened. Viktoriya once was a head taller than Tanya, but the height difference slightly increased. She smile was out of place in such a situation.

A muscular blond man walked in. "I'm so sorry it came to this Tanya. I did the best I could. At least you are guaranteed whatever food you can buy. By playing the Entente and Dakia against the Republic, I was able to convince them the need for a judge from the Allied Kingdom to preside over your trial" said King Charles X von Hapsburg.

A small man entered the door. His red hair was thinning and his face had a scar. He had to have been in his 50s. His skin was as pale as the other people in the room. Despite his small stature for a man, he was slightly larger than Viktoriya and considerable more so than Tanya. "I'm Harold Wilson, your advocate" said the man, tipping his hat.

"What are her chances?" said Charles X.

"To be honest, the odds are stacked against Lieutenant General Tanya Degurechaff. The judge only has control over the submission of evidence and proceedings, but unlike a normal court, he will not be able to make any decisions about what charges can be made. This allows the Republican prosecutor to just make up a crime. Since the Republic never acknowledged The Empire's de jure existence, we don't have much precedent to work on. And the jury is entirely handpicked by the other side" said Harold.

"What am I being accused of?" said Tanya.

"I don't know all the charges that are going to be attempted to be piled, but one of them is excessive cruelty when killing. 'When time and resource permits, enemy combatants that do not surrender should be simply killed without causing excessive physical pain'. Since artillery shelling is not considered excessive, this would seem to leave a lot of leeway" said Charles X.

"This is about Arene right?" said Viktoriya.

"I didn't think they read my paper so quickly" said Tanya.

"Huh? Tanya my child… I really hate to admit this but I ordered all your work made in War College to be destroyed. I never read any of them, but someone at court suggested a child officer should be kept away from the front at first to mature and train for three years or so. Any child who got a commission is certainly talented, but until battle tested young officers tend to come up with ideas that work nice on paper but have problems that make them impractical. While I did respect your superior's officer to put you in charge of a rapid response unit, I carelessly confused an order to examine and restrict accesses for a destruction order. All copies of most of your theses were destroyed, with the exception of logistics chain papers and one other paper. I believe Colonel Rerugen made a copy of one about resource application something about Total War" said Charles X.

"It's hard to believe such carelessness is possible at the top given the efficiency of the civilian bureaucracy. Never mind, this might work to our advantage" said Tanya.

"I think they will bring up Arene. All other Imperial mages turned over were charged with shooting civilians during war, a war crime. All of the previous ones were sentenced to life imprisonment. Some also had their possessions taken. Others were forced to make public apologies. Three were castrated" said Harold.

"I'm looking at the names, none of these match my subordinates" said Tanya.

"They were from different units from three separate purging incidents. In all cases, multiple eyewitnesses pointed to the fact that the 'civilians' executed were partisans who threw down their guns earlier so that they could blend in with civilians. 7 cases were captured on observation orbs. 10 cases had civilian eyewitness report the executed alleged civilians had thrown down weapons to avoid suspicion. All cases have multiple Imperial witnesses vouching for the defendants. The Imperials tended to get some details inconsistent. In typical case, there were a dozen witnesses with four stories which backed up the defendant's innocence, but were inconstant with each other and only one consistent the defendant's testimony. Imperial witnesses tended to be far away and not really paying too much attention to the mages, tending to be focused on security or logistics operations. There are zero eyewitness reports disputing the victims throwing down weapons with the known partisans and Republican Mages" said Harold

"So a partisan eyewitness lends more strength in a testimony than a civilian watching his neighbor drop his gun and get shot a week later?" said Viktoriya. It was clear she was trying to keep a positive spin, but was worried.

"Only in those past trials. The prosecutor is the same, but only three jurors are. Actually in one case, a businessman saw the executed 'civilian' had been shooting at Imperial MPs only an hour before being shot by the defendant. In all cases, I have only been given 170 hours between the time I know the charges and the trial, limiting my ability to summon witnesses. How much evidence can we gather from operation orbs?" said Harold.

"Orbs are not routinely set to record as this puts a mana drain and this cannot be interrupted or the recording stops. Using concentration to put a shield up in response to an attack without disputing the video is beyond most mages. Furthermore, unlike a reel, the videos cannot be copied from one medium to another, only played. Not even orb to orb transfer is possible. Making an eighth recoding on an orb destroys the first, which meant many novices which had on and off recordings didn't record much" said Viktoriya.

"Miss Degurechaff, you probably know this but, well convincing the court to be held to a standard of a normal court is going to help you more than merely providing factual evidence in an attempt to refute the accusations. I'll get to work on your case" said Harold. He wrote a few things in a pad and left.

"You'll be talking more with Harold than me from now on I guess" said Charles X von Hapsburg. He looked over the two officers. It was strange, they could almost be sisters, yet the younger one had demonstrated more capability. "I can only hold them to the terms of the Treaty of Copenhagen" he finished as he left.

"Don't give up. We can get you out" said Viktoriya.

"I don't intend to break out before the verdict as long as I'm not worse than house arrest" said Tanya, loud enough so that the ex-Kaiser could hear.

"But didn't you say that rules were optional if the other side broke them first?" said Viktoriya.

"I did say that. And it could be easier to get out from here. But I'm not going to be convicted without a fight. The Empire deserves to know that how hard its soldiers had fought for it, especially my own efforts" said Tanya.

"The Empire doesn't exist. We are legally Prussians but in our heart we are Imperials. We have no country" said Viktoriya, saddened.

The last of Tanya's guests left. A guard started camera operation in the cell. Charles X assured Tanya her privacy would be respected. He told her beforehand the cameras were a double edged sword. On one hand, any escape attempts were obviously deterred. The camera itself wouldn't be difficult to disable, but it was on a stand and bearings that would make loud noise if disturbed. On the other hand, all guests and bathroom visits were logged. This meant all time off the reels were accounted for. If any of the occupation guards tried to steal anything or physically hurt her, they would either be on reel or there would be a gap in the recordings.

While under house arrest in the barracks, Tanya Degurechaff had access to spending within limits. Any items purchased could be redirected to her residence if it was deemed an escape tool. She started filling out orders for newspaper ads. Although communication with the outside world was not explicitly forbidden, Tanya already established a system of Morse code with relevant supporters. She would not need to meeting time allocated to visitors to express escape plans. In any event, escape plans were a bit premature. Tanya sent details about personnel patterns of her guards and accusers. This was going to be a long game.

With her shackles, Tanya was now completely in the hands of her allies. No matter how hard she worked, she could not free herself on her own. Tanya had gambled on others respecting her enough to follow through commands despite having lost all legal authority over them. Did they respect her enough? Tanya had full confidence in her plans when she had agreed to Charles X von Hapsburg to effectively sell her freedom for the fate of the Hapsburg monarchy, but she did it with the intention of winning it back. Now Tanya started having doubts.

If all went well, the Empire would see Tanya as a hero once more, like after her propaganda shooting. Tanya got the distinct impression outside of the immediate superiors; she had been slowly slipping out of people's mind as the war went on, even by other military units. In actuality, other events were keeping people outside her immediate contact busy with attention and anything sufficiently far enough of the past will be forgotten if something pressing happens every month. When the Pope was quoted out of context to appear to support the severing of the Empire in the Treaty of Copenhagen, there was a massive backlash in the streets even after corrections (futilely) were printed. Tanya had seen the backlash in one of the Prussian cities herself and no one listened to her protests that she had worked for the Empire with all her efforts and she claimed her battle prayers were merely to get the morale of her subordinates high. Only other veterans would defend her in the hostile cities.

A nun from the orphanage Tanya grew up in had seen her three times in Berun during the war, always proud of her. When she saw Tanya days before her arrest, the nun's attitude was replaced with constrained respect, as if she still respected Tanya, but didn't personally like her anymore. Tanya noted that the nun didn't ask her to go shopping and hand out food to the children that time, although it was possible due to the orphanage's funds being destroyed by inflation. The change in attitude might have also been due to her public claims in the other cities that her prayers were not full of faith and she all but denied being a Catholic. While Tanya didn't care about the nun's opinion in particular, she felt many of those outside her own circle who once respected her either forgot her or no longer had a positive opinion.

It was rather ironic. A war hero was not supposed to put herself before her country. Fleeing and letting the Republic, Entente, and Americans impose a harsh peace could be seen as disloyal, despite the fact that in this case it was her own faction giving approval for her to be apprehended and presumable convicted. Tanya's choices were to either flee and be a fallen hero in the eyes of the only people who once liked her or risk never being free again. It was due to her belief she could get out of this with both her reputation and freedom that she chose this. If she stayed put until convicted, the Imperial side of the bargain concerning her was fulfilled.

Furthermore, this plan trying to save her public image was dependent on her being able to command her allies from confinement. If they were influenced even subconsciously by the ignorant masses, they would not risk their necks for Tanya.

Three weeks later, Tanya Degurechaff was led to the courtroom, connected to the mana inhibitor by long shackles. Guards carried a large cylinder behind her. She was led through a brand door made of carved wood. A huge courtroom lay before her. There was a giant chandelier overhead. A dark red carpet led from the door all the way to the judge's position. Tanya was escorted down the center and then turned to face her counsel.

"I see you have not followed my advice to wear civilian clothing" said Harold Wilson.

"Mr. Wilson, I prefer my dress uniform" said Tanya, with a slight edge in her voice.

"Unlike a normal court, both you and I are acting as Tanya Degurechaff's lawyer. Miss Degurechaff, you can question their witnesses, but I'd suggest you leave this to me" said Harold.

Over three hours, spectators trickled into the courtroom. A camera was set up. A brunette busty Republican prosecutor was coopted from the Republic's national government for this case. The witness stand was surrounded by three mages, casting the spell "zone of truth." This prevented anyone inside the center from lying with the side effect of drowsiness, or even within a meter outside the circle itself, preventing the mages themselves from lying, and making it hard to concentrate to stay awake. It's true it can be resisted even by a non magical individual, but any successful attempt to do so would break the spell quite visible. Any evidence gathered from witnesses inside zone of truth is not admissible to court except during the trial itself. Even consenting to be under the spell during non-court interrogation can invalidate the case, to prevent privacy abuse. Breaking the spell under oath is not illegal, but lying under oath is. "Lieutenant General Tanya Degurechaff, you are being charged with war crimes. You are charged with the killing of civilians, being a monster in a child's body, excessive cruelty on the battlefield, looting, sexual assault on civilians, killing of an American citizen prior to declaration of war, raising the casualty rate of Americans, Chinses, and Turkish armies above Imperial rates, prolonging the conflict, and anything the inquiry finds along the way" said the prosecutor.

"Sexual assault?" muttered Tanya.

"Don't worry. The case on the one is weak enough I didn't feel it was necessary to inform a child about… how adults work. I know you should be an adolescent based on time elapsed since your birth but looking at you, I think your body and brain are a bit underdeveloped so this might be above your head" said Harold. Harold then turned attention to the court.

"Your honor, with the exception of killing civilians, looting, and excessive cruelty, none of these are war crimes. The prosecution did not accuse the defendant of rape" said Harold.

"The Empire is a de facto state with no de jure right to exist. It is the union of an illegal marriage between the Austrians and Prussians, which over a few generations was followed by marriages with four other German royal states. This was cumulated with the rest of the former Holy Roman Empire swearing fealty to the six illegally joined states. I bring you abbot Hollande" said the prosecutor.

A small man in a bald cap stepped up. "Some of the marriages were consanguineous. The marriage between the Austria Hapsburg and Prussian Wessex line was between 2nd cousins. While none of them shared grandparents, there were three great grandparents in common between them. The next generation adopted the Hapsburg name. The next generation between the Austrian Hapsburg and Oldenburgian Oldenburg line was between a man and his great granddaughter" said the bald man. Immediately a bunch of people made some noises of disgust and the judge had to bang the gravel to silence them. One man had to be expelled. "Actually, for the next 30 years until his hair FINALLY started going white he did look more like a younger teenaged brother to her. And they didn't find out until three years later because the Oldenburgs themselves didn't think to look at their own ancestry from the mother side. Anyways, the next generation was a marriage between siblings. This is doubly dubious. The previous king of Ansebach-Cleves died with no sibling, cousins, or second cousins, not even in the non royal ancestry. He adopted a von Hapsburg princess, also a countess, to gain foreign support in trades. Cleves's succession laws specifically forbid the departure from male preference primogeniture, and all royal adoptions must be made with the approval of 75% of the nobles, which the king turned a simple majority into a supermajority by counting Ansebach counts. The adopted hier Cornelia von Hapsburg, countess of Fürstenberg-Messkirch, then fell in love with her brother after her first fiancé tried to kill her, liking her state with Austria. Two other states that were joined into the Hapsburg monarchy didn't even marry into the royal line. In one case, the king of one state married a Hapsburg princess, but this was also consanguineous. In none of the cases did the marriages receive an exemption of His Holiness, the Bishop of Rome" finished the abbot.

The prosecutor then called in three separate bishops who operated in the Republic to testify the consanguinity and non approval, the lack of dispensation given from the church. Harold decided his best bet was to attempt to force the court to recognize the Empire was indeed a valid state. By beginning in Catholic rules, they had opened themselves up to attack.

Harold tried to question the bishops about if the unions of the previous kingdoms were forbidden, but they deflected the questions, denying themselves from being judges of royal court affairs. He then summoned a tall man wearing a polo shirt. The man had cut brown hair and looked to be in his 30s. It was George Valois, acting prime minister of the Republic.

"Does the republic respect Catholic law?" said Harold.

"We allow full religious freedom to anyone except Jews, who are allowed to practice their rituals in appropriate places and get qualified protection" said George.

"Is a papal disposition needed to legalize a consanguineous marriage in the Republic?" said Harold.

"No" said the prime minister.

"Does the Republic consider itself loyal to Catholicism?" said Harold.

"It's a bit of a weird situation. Only 25% are practicing Catholics, 3% other Christians, and 1% other regions. In some sense this is an atheist dominated state, a relic from the Revolution and Reign of Terror. However, until the decade before the way, it was always felt that it was better tor the Republic to be perceived as Catholic even if few people in it were religious" said the prime minister.

"So the republic recognizes consanguineous marriages and it does not consider itself Catholic. Yet it denies the Empire's right to exist by Catholic cannon law?" said Harold.

"However, until the Empire was declared to replace Austria, consanguineous marriages without dispositions were illegal in Austria. Even for all the other former kingdoms, marriages not allowed by the Roman Catholic Church were legal, but heavily frowned upon. Since the marriages were illegal in Austria, the unions that followed were illegal. The Empire as a state had no right to exist" said the prosecutor.

"I call in Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury of the Allied Kingdom" said Harold. Another bishop walked in. "Is it true that the Catholic Church has crowned Kaisers of the Empire?" said Harold.

"Yes. Ever since the Ansebach was joined to Austria, the Church had crowned their line. Emperor of Austria, King of Romans, King of Prussia, King of Hungary, King of Oldenburg, and so on. When the Empire was formed, the church stopped crowning them for a while, but this was due to convenience, not a non recognition of the von Hapsburg legitimacy on the Empire's throne. As you all know, during that time, there was a bit of chaos going around in modern day Iloda, and crowning with a substitute instead of the real artifact would be kind of dumb. After some time, we started crowning Kaisers. Kaiser Charles VIII von Hapsburg, Charles X's great grandfather was the first to be presented the crown personally by the Church. You can ask him if you want, he abdicated some time ago, but his memory is fresh even if his reaction time and physical health are subpar" said Thomas.

"Did the Empire have a right to exist during the War?" said Harold.

"The Catholic Church and Vatican approved of the von Hapsburg monarchy legitimacy at that time. Its right to live was surrendered in the Treaty of Copenhagen. You won't find a Catholic bishop who disputes" said Thomas. He was right.

"The Republic does not recognize the Empire as a de jure state. The unions were illegal. Furthermore, a Hapsburg or a German speaking hegemony cannot be allowed to exist in Europe" said the prosecutor.

"Is hegemony illegal in Europe? Was Napoleon an illegal ruler?" said Harold.

"If it is led by von Hapsburgs or German speaking elite, the answer is yes. Otherwise, it might not be a good thing for the world, but it is allowed. Napoleon was a legal ruler" said the prosecutor. The Budapest spectators mumbled. The judge banged the gavel.

"Normally a judge would be determining facts of law while the jury is the finder of fact. I recognize the Empire's past existence and so does my own country, the Allied Kingdom. However, the Republic, the people who picked me, does not. By the Treaty of Copenhagen, the prosecutor will decide if the Empire had a right to exist and therefore what standard of law it should be held to. She may add additional crimes to charge. The jury will be then theft to decide if those additional crimes are worth punishment and if the defendant commited them" said the judge.

"The prosecution does not recognize the Empire's right to exist. Therefore, war crimes can be charged even if they would be legal in a declared war from one state to another" said the prosecutor. Harold lost his best chance to save his client.

The prosecution did indeed bring up the shelling of Arene. It pointed out Tanya and her battalion did fight and order and artillery bombardment. Imperial hostages during the incident, Arene civilians, and some partisans were used as witnesses.

"Is it true that you were not part of the Republican Army, but chose to fire on Imperial soldiers anyways?" said Harold.

"Yes" said the partisan.

"This partisan had violated international law first, allowing the Imperial army leeway for the safety of the soldiers" said Harold.

"By the Treaty of Copenhagen, Republicans committing war crimes against the Empire cannot be held to be responsible for their actions" said the prosecutor.

"Maybe not, but this opens the window for legalizing retaliation" said the judge.

Tanya stepped up and started questioning the partisan. "Why did you do this? My country was following the rules and we didn't want to kill civilians. You cheated" said Tanya, putting on her cute and innocent voice, opening her eyes and looking as dumbfounded as a kid who was cheated in a game.

"You Imperial dogs can all die, Arene is Republican soil!" said the partisan.

"Major Tanya Degurechaff was given orders to clear out the city. If an illegal order is given, a subordinate is absolved of all responsibility as long as they were not the originator of the idea or take pleasure in executing the order" said Harold.

"This would apply if the Empire had a right to exist, which it does not. Furthermore, I have a witness reporting the defendant enjoying the shelling of the civilians" said the prosecutor. A man in his 30s with black hair and an eyepatch stepped up and testified how not only was his brother in law, a partisan, killed, but the defendant enjoying ordering the artillery strike.

"Describe the situation you saw the defendant" said Harold.

"The defendant was flying 10 meters above the ground. She had a large radio pack on her. She flew towards the bank on a small street and radioed for the shelling. She had a wicked smile on her face" said the black haired man.

"Can you describe the defendant's face and other physical characteristics" said Harold.

"The monster was a short woman with medium sized breasts, dirty blond hair, chapped lips, and an oblong face" said the eyepatched man. A groan came from the prosecutor and the spectators made a murmur. Tanya and Harold were glad the witnesses were separated one by one and none of them saw any proceedings prior to their stand. Harold brought out Tanya from behind a screen.

"Is this the girl you saw ordering the artillery strike?" said Harold.

"What? You are not with anyone" said the witness.

"To my right. No, my right. Your other right. Can you see her now?" said Harold.

"That's a potted plant" said the witness.

"Arghhh, shirt your focus three degrees" said Harold, losing patience.

"Those are the prosecutor's giant tits" said the perverted witness.

"Hey! Stop standing so close to me. The prosecution isn't even supposed to be here. OK, step left three steps. Now tilt your head down. Is this who you saw?" said Harold.

"No, she looks like what the officer could be if she was older. Nice hat by the way, why is she wearing the uniform of a bailiff?" said the man.

"No. Look to me. OK to your left. OK, I think you got it. What do you see?" said Harold.

"I see your hand holding the hand of a child. Some blond hair is within my line of sight" said the witness.

"What is wrong with you? Is this defendant the one you saw? You should be able to see her face and upper body form here" said Harold, his tone completely professional, although the actual contents of his words were starting to betray his thoughts.

"Ah, that's a hip just above the balcony blocking cover. She could use some curves. Ah, above. Let's see, the face… yeah, I think she's the one" said the black haired witness.

"But you said the one who had a wicked smile was busty, with dirty blond hair, and an oblong face" said Harold.

"I said medium breasts" said the witness.

"Your honor, does my defendant match that description?" said Harold.

"Technically, you probably should call in a witness or cross examine one to describe that" said the judge.

"Tanya 'White Silver' is a lovely golden blond with no signs of losing its shine!" said a member of the spectator.

"Silence!" said the judge.

"Can the prosecution describe the physical characteristics of my defendant, her age, and her hair?" said Harold.

"Tanya's hair is not a faded dirty blond, but golden blond. Her characteristics are underdeveloped and it's difficult to believe she is a teenager much less 16. Her face is like a child's. The witness is not lying, the zone of truth still works" said the prosecutor, not bothering to move to the witness stand to save some time.

"Do you have any medical conditions?" said Harold, turning his attention back to the witness stand.

"I have high cholesterol, which a new medical paper said was bad. I have pain in my left leg. My liver is removing from alcohol abuse. I have lost an eye. And I have pretty bad tunnel vision, outside the center; I can't see anything stationary unless it is getting brighter or darker. If something does move, I can see some limited stuff, which my brain is sometimes known to fill in details for a picture that makes sense" said the witness. The witness was dismissed without further questioning.

"Our only eyewitness who saw my defendant enjoy the killings at Arene has some difficulty seeing. He was unable to accurately describe my defendant. It is not possible that the smile was part of what he did not see but was extrapolated from his limited vision?" said Harold.

"My next defense is concerning international law. It is known that partisans can disguise themselves as civilians. A military occupation force has the right to relocate civilians with an 8 hour warning. I'm calling a citizen from Arene, Mary Leroy to the stand. Did the Imperial Army give warning before the artillery strike?" said Harold.

"Yes. We received leaflets 170 hours before the shelling, and a verbal one 168 hours before. However, because no additional warnings were given out, it was assumed the evacuation order was cancelled" said Mary.

"I'm calling Corporal Franz Wiener of the Imperial infantry to the stand. What warnings were given out for the civilians to evacuate?" said Harold.

"Leaflets were dropped in 170 hours before in German. 168 Hours before the shelling, verbal warnings were given in German, French, and English. 24 Hours before the shelling, verbal warning were given in German and Breton. 1 hour before the shelling, an officer came in under the flag of truce to announce the shelling and was immediately taken captive by the partisans. 30 minutes before the shelling, verbal warnings were given in German, Czech, Danish, French, English, Breton, and Dutch. Another verbal warning in German was immediately given by Major Degurechaff" said the corporal.

"Under international law, this is sufficient warning. If there was a single partisan incident where an Imperial soldier died or was attacked prior to the shelling, any non-compliers can be considered illegal combatants. The Imperials might have to reimburse property damage to those who complied, but the lives of those inside were regrettably considered lost when they refused to comply with a legal order, if we assume this is a war between two states" said the judge.

"The Empire has no right to exist, this point is moot" said the prosecutor.

"Then what should be considered was, were these really civilians" said the judge.

"I bring to the stand then Lieutenant Viktoriya Ivanovna Serebryakov" said Harold.

"We have had many incidents where imperial soldiers were shot by militia in civilian clothing. I also have a video recording of them shooting unarmed Imperials in the back" said Viktoriya. She brought out an operation rob. Due to recording limits, the orb needed to be taken out of usage to save the recoding, otherwise these would have been overrode in the future. She played a video, showing several partisans shooting military police and then throwing down their weapons. Another video showed a Republican mages supplying and arming the partisans. A third one showed a true meat, several partisans, one of which was in the first video, shooting an unarmed Imperial attempting to flee.

The day went on through scenes of Arene and testimony. As evening approached, the court was adjourned for the day. "I always had this nagging feeling war crime trials were nothing more than frame ups. Sometimes they end up framing the guilty, but honestly, the standards are pretty poor. I remember one Nazi who was convicted despite not committing atrocity himself and never ordering it. In fact, he walked into three Jewish businesses including a tailor and warned them a roundup of Danish Jews was imminent. His thoughts were what others would consider and he only did so because he thought death camps were a waste of resources, but he never committed a malicious act even if his motives were impure" said Tanya. That said, she didn't feel sorry for the Nazis from her former world. The problem with framing the guilty wasn't the outcome, but that if courts are not held to standard, on average happiness would go down due to catching innocents. In other words, rule utilitarianism forbids framing even if a particular case involves the guilty party.

"Denmark was not a country for quite some time, I only get that you're saying these are little more than show trials but your examples make no sense. You haven't seen anything yet. I vaguely remember the trial of one Polish nationalist. Everybody freaking knew his terrorist group would have been guilty of many crimes even if it was a state. My favorite was trying to tie the massacre of 3,000 German speaking imperials in Prague to him. Everyone knew he gave the order, but hearsay wasn't allowed and a few key witnesses were dead. In another piece of evidence against him, we had a confession from someone within the zone of truth outside a court situation from a subordinate, preventing us from using any testimony from him that self-incriminated in court. Since implicating his superior in court would also self-incriminate him, we couldn't have him testify. In the end, the prosecutor ordered hearsay to be admissible. Ah, but that was before your time, you were not even born" said Harold.

Tanya was escorted back to the barracks. Guards moved the large mana inhibitor to her room. One blond man in an Entente uniform stood by her door. "Rough trial?" said the guard.

"Why does everyone hate me for doing my job?" said Tanya, widening her eyes with her cute voice.

"Your job… well the world is complicated. And the Republic's goals are opposite that of your bosses" said the guard.

"Why did don't they play by the rules, but I'm being punished when I followed them?" said Tanya.

"I don't know if you followed them or not, but it would seem on the incident shown for today you did The Republic broke the rulers because they were ordered to"

"Why did your country and the Republic need to attack my country?" said Tanya.

"I don't know it's above my pay grade" said the guard.

"That's… a line that would not be out of place from myself. Your German is good" said Tanya.

"I wouldn't have been assigned to here without German or Hungarian. I'm Lieutenant Cornelius Sørensen" said the young guard.

"You know my name. Lieutenant General Tanya Degurechaff" said Tanya.

"I was an infantryman on the territorial incursion that sparked the war. My column got the order to retreat when I saw you approaching the sector. I saw Entente mages fight you and your bravery. I couldn't' see your details, but watching you was kind of like watching a beautiful dance. I never thought you'd survive that until I saw one of your nation's propaganda videos. Apparently the lone mage who stood against us had survived and got a medal. If I was an Imperial, I think I might have been a fan of yours" said Lieutenant Sørensen.

"I have instructions for an ad and a food request" said Tanya, giving out a paper full of instructions. Until convicted, she was guaranteed at least that much freedom.

"Tanya. I'll make sure they get submitted" said the guard. He pushed a button and a trio of guards was summoned. He walked away with her request in hand while the others stood outside her room. Tanya knew that according to the letter of the terms of surrender, she should not be denied these things. However, she had anticipated the guards might try to abuse the situation. By making this one feel pity for her, she was at least guaranteed this much rights. She had insisted the surrender terms allow this, as long as her allies can compare her ads to the agreed beforehand code, she had communication with the outside world.

Inside a courtroom at Berun, Charles X von Hapsburg was trying a rather futile appeal some of the destruction of former Imperial society by the occupiers. An Allied Kingdom judge acted as the mediator between George Valois, Republican Prime Minister, Joseph Quisling, Entente representative, seven prominent American senators, the president of united states, Dakian ambassador, and Charles X. The eugenics program was strong in America, having roots in the suppression of Indian population west of the Rockies. The relocation of Indians in the Trail of Tears was remembered as an accidental good thing, preventing racial impurities with all the Indian deaths that happened on the march. West of the Rockies, a similar program was repeated with a higher death toll and more malicious intention rather than "lethal neglect." With 75% of the US senate and a majority of the voters supporting eugenics as well as the need to punish the Empire for the American war troubles, a way to solve both problems lay in the hands of the occupation forces. Charles X protested that the proposals were unconscionable and not wheat he agreed on.

"Regrettably, you cannot protect your former subjects from this obligation. Your agreement to help the Americans with the eugenics program as stated in the treaty was rather open ended. A loophole prevents the application of this in Austria, but the only other restriction is that your helping cannot directly interfere with fiscal budget or payment of reparations, so funds of the successor states cannot be used to enforce it, rather this will be done with manpower from occupation forces. Unconscionability is not relevant in international law" said the Judge.

"But this proposal is doing what the Americans would never do to individuals of their own, not even as punishment for crimes" protested Charles X.

"It says so right here in The Treaty of Copenhagen that all people in the de facto state of the Empire who were not nobility at the time the war started were to be have as many rights as commoners under a country that had surrendered unconditionally for the purposes of fulfilling treaty obligations. Even if we accept the Empire had been a de jure state, we are allowed to do anything to your people" said George Valois.

"But you put in that line after my translators had read though it and you said that it was the same document we went over first!" said Charles X. His English translators went over the treaty and told him the terms three days before signing. When he signed the treaty, he did look over it himself. Charles's English was OK, but apparently the extra cognitive load of translating caused him to miss inserted details.

"Unfortunately you have no witnesses other than military officials from the Empire who witnesses the claim George said that. There are no civilians and no non Imperials who will verify that" said the Dakian ambassador. He felt sorry for the Empire's people, but courting the Americans was more important than the fate of his defeated enemies.

"As people of a country that had surrendered unconditionally have no rights, they are not entitled to relief nor can they press kidnapping charges with occupation approval. While the Empire did not surrender conditionally, you have allowed your former subjects in the north and your current subjects in the south to the same provisions as people of such a nation. The occupation forces have a free hand to enforce the terms. In theory, if Americans decided Prussia was a threat to their genetic pool due to legal immigration of undesirables or feebleminded from Prussia to United States, they can kill anyone in Prussia who might impregnate an American in the future, as long as it helps their eugenics program they are free to do so, even if they would never do so to their own" said the Judge.

"That line is not party of the treaty I reviewed" said Charles X.

"I don't really have much sympathy for you your majesty. Your nation caused the Allied Kingdom some grief over a decade and we always had to keep an eye in Africa thanks to you. Furthermore, you were the one who signed it without reading the fine print. It was your own fault for leaving such an opened ended clause in. I heard you even took the wine offered in the end of the war ceremony before you signed it" said the judge.

"I had assumed the Republican negotiators were acting in good faith when they said they didn't change anything. Even if they don't recognize me as Kaiser, I have the crowns of Austria, Hungary, and Croatia by the Republic's own admission. A monarch, even a defeated one, deserves more respect than to be lied to during the negotiation table" said Charles.

"Respect? I'll show you!" said George. He took off his shirt, grabbed his pit hair and thrust it in the direction of Charles X von Hapsburg. "We suffered the threat Hapsburg hegemony even before the creation of your de facto state. My party only has a plurality in parliament, but we have 3 coalition partners, and we only need any combination of 2 to stay in power. Guess what my party ran on? Revenge for Arene and it just so happens that the American eugenics plan fits perfectly. Oh, your child Cornelia in the Allied Kingdom I hear is a beauty. Her hair is a golden blond, just like all 8 of her great grandparents. Those blue eyes emit an aura of innocence. Her skin is as white as snow. There are others like her in the Empire are there not? A shame Cornelia is not only in the Allied Kingdom right now, but has status as a noble. I'm sure if only she was available her use to supply genetic material to the Americans would gladly be taken by one of them" said George gleefully. He normally acted like a professional, but rubbing it in the young king's face was delicious.

"Admit you sneaked that line in the Treaty of Copenhagen!" screamed Charles X von Hapsburg. He lunged forward, drawing his ceremonial rapier. Immediately, three of his own guards from Austria tacked and pinned him down, despite the numbers, he was muscular enough to start overpowering and was inching forward one centimeter every 5 seconds.

"It's not worth it! A few seconds of satisfaction and that man's life isn't worth your crown. The empire is shattered. Ethnic tensions which looked like a relic of the past merely three generations ago surfaced again. The communists could make another uprising in the north. Neighbor against neighbor is coming up frequently. The Imperial pride of Militarism, Religiousness, Expansionism, Strength through Unity and Wealth that tied us together were shattered. The only thing in common is former or current loyalty to the Hapsburg Monarchy. The Empire needs you, even as a powerless figurehead" said the former Imperial guard. Charles inched forward before the Austria guard gave a blow to the knee to collapse him.

The next day Tanya, back in Budapest, had a call from Charles X von Hapsburg. "If you want me to get you out, I did give my word to them. Also, this call is probably being monitored" said Charles.

"I want to know the social situation. How is the outside?" said Tanya.

"They didn't give you a newspaper" said Charles.

"I want more details you majesty. Is the stab in the back myth still going on?" said Tanya.

"It wasn't exactly a myth, but I know the military situation wasn't that great to begin with" said the King.

"The legislature was only there to provide advice and give you the general feeling of the population. About an eighth of the time you shoot down their law proposals and they cannot overrule you even with a supermajority. It's pure advisory and yet you told them outright you thought they were giving our military an unnecessary difficult task without overruling them" said Tanya.

"There was unmistakable jingoism. I should have shot down the Russian offensive right off the bat. After neutralizing the Turkmen Duchies threat to the fatherland, I told them that the Euphrates offensive was dangerously overextending, even though we ultimately did reach there and establish a semi stable defensive line. The idea of turning the Republican colonial empire into our own was also hubris. I knew I could have stopped them with a simple royal order. But how could so many noblemen and elected commoners be wrong?" said Charles.

"When all your generals disapprove of a military action, it's probably wrong. Your own assessment was correct and you caved in. Even the expansionist generals who thought the Entente should be conquered could have never considered the three major offensives, which while had sort term success and technically achieved their operational goals only contributed to the logistics problem. The Americans, the Entente, and the Republicans who were based in Africa were only able to launch a Mediterranean assault on southern France due to the spread of the manpower. The Chinese states throwing in their lot with the Allied Powers only made things worse with their human wave attack on the river defenses" replied Tanya.

"Austria is somewhat stable despite the inflation…" said Charles.

"That you initiated you majesty" said Tanya.

"I'll soon give you the information you need to know about the gutting of our tax base. In other successor states, the blame game continues. In Bavaria there were three anti-Semitic riots that killed thousands. Three parties, including the plurality party have incorporated this into their official stand. They are a vocal minority and the majority has no faith in elections and don't really want to risk their necks for strangers. A common sentiment is 'The Jews are innocent, but a thousand of their lives is not worth me spending an hour to correct these political idiots, much less risking my neck' They have their own problems to deal with. Agricultural production is expected to drop due to the ban on artificial fertilizers by the Treaty of Copenhagen. On the other hand, manure prices have gone up. The inflation doesn't help. In some states, there is a bit of an ethnic divide growing that hasn't been seen in three hundred years. Other successor states have had some riots. Some of them started out against the occupation forces, which naturally resulted in massacres of the locals. Others have started against the occupation forces and then turned into looting, forcing the local military to help the occupation forces put down their own people" said Charles.

"What did you mean by the tax base being gutted?" said Tanya.

"Well, some of the looting removed mechanization. Also, only 1/3000 surviving farmers have mechanization such as tractors, while the rest are reduced to using animals or manual labor, so the first postbellum harvest is expected to be low. There is a restriction on the import of oil, copper, coper containing machinery, and rubber. By the Treaty of Copenhagen, for every unit of currency spent on the importation of these items, two have to be spent on reparations. This effectively triples their price. And The Treaty of Copenhagen specified Imperial successor states must give their old census records and help the Americans with their eugenics program" said Charles X.

"Don't tell me we have to kill our own in death camps" said Tanya, horrified at the loss of human resources that could be used to remake society.

"Huh? I said help the Americans with their eugenics program, not start our own" said Charles, a bit dumbfounded. "The Americans have been worried about the influx of Asians, Ilodians, Turks, Irish, Poles, Serbians, and Dakians into their country. A single child racial policy was introduced along with immigration quotas, but it was deemed that it would take some time for corrections to be made. Currently their population is only 97% white and 75% 'Anglo-Saxon Protestant high quality' whatever that means. To prevent the fall of their genetic stock, they wish to replenish using high quality ex-Imperials. Over the next three months, they will be grabbing 1/8 of females from ages 5-37 that meet certain criteria. They must be blond, blue eyed, and their skin must very white. The height should be 136 cm or higher or their mother must meet 136 or their father must be 170 cm or higher, or three great grandfathers must be 170 cm or higher. 136 cm is three standard deviations below the average height for females in the Empire, so this restriction doesn't cover much. Anyone with a deformity that can be proved to be congenital is excluded, but deformities are considered acquired unless otherwise stated. For every girl grabbed, a husband or boyfriend was killed or if theirs was already dead from the war, their father if not already dead from war and if neither applied, an infant little brother if one existed" said Charles.

"And you agreed to this madness you majesty? How could you let this happen?" said Tanya, putting on her child's plea.

"No!" sobbed Charles. "At least… I didn't think I did when they said I had to help them with their eugenics program. I thought it meant a one child policy. I didn't think it would involve the selection all these girls who are being taken across the seas never to take their families again" said Charles. He thought back to the Allied Kingdom judge, acting as mediator of the Treaty of Copenhagen.

"Does this have anything to do with the Newspaper Headline 'King Imprisoned for Three Days for Contempt of Court?'" asked Tanya.

"I might have attempted to kill the bastard who tricked me. Why I was imprisoned is something that happened in the recent past and the details don't really matter. I'm calling from a prison too, so technically you have better accommodations than I do. God, the food is awful" said Charles.

"It's around the same selection of food you are likely dooming me to have once they ultimately convict me. Have you forsaken me more than once? You let the court get ahold of me. Now you let the legalized kidnapping of the blond haired, blue eyed, and pure white skinned. That applies to me too, my mother was tall. Are you going to let them take me away to never see the fatherland again as a prize for an American?" said Tanya.

Calculations were already running through her head. If Tanya had been forsaken again, to be taken by the Americans she might have another chance of freedom if her own plans failed. This would have an "accident" on her new captor. Of course, the primary escape plan should always take full consideration and any backups merely just jotted down mentally. Besides, it was certainly possible whoever picked her as a trophy might do something gross to her before she could escape. So the first backup plan would be to bite the capsule and send the signal to the others to break her out, stealth and consequences be damned. Hopefully it would never come to a backup plan. Would Major Serebryakov risk her life for her [i]former[/i] superior for no personal gain?

Meanwhile she was assessing the quality of this link. Tanya would have absolutely loved to get the man's favor when she was still in War College. Now his value as a superior was gone and any value to her was wealth, judgement, and knowledge. Charles X von Hapsburg's judgment seems to be poor. He let an elected advisory parliament overrule his generals, and when generals are wrong they are usually too jingoistic not the reverse. Before his reign Charles also managed to impregnate his then fiancée who was 38 months his senior before their formal marriage… when he was 11. And now Tanya is hearing that he was tricked into signing the rights of his subjects away, letting the Americans take Imperial females at will. Given most of the population in the north were blond, this was a considerable minority of the survivors. It's true that he micromanaged a lot in the bureaucracy and almost all the time it worked. Those three times were the only time Tanya thought his decisions made no sense given his information, even the attacking of infantry divisions with unsupported mage battalions had some basis in reality, but these were pretty big mistakes. On the other hand, Charles X was likely her best source of information on the intention of her captors, so she might need his help if something does not go according to plan: try a defense, probably get convicted, and escape. Based on this, the cute kid act was the way to go, just like Major Unger.

"No, my child. Ironically, based on the selection for the show trials, they can't take you regardless or your verdict. If you are acquitted, you are free. Otherwise you can only be subject to what are valid sentences in any of the victor nations. They would probably base it off of the Republic. You could get imprisonment, fines, castration, sensory deprivation, public humiliation, private humiliation, forced to make a public apology, forced labor, or execution. For example, homosexuality is punishable there usually by 3 years imprisonment or public humiliation. Some cases received as much as a decade and castration is still on the books although it hasn't applied for 30 years. For some of the previously convicted Imperial Mages, they could cherry pick any punishment on their books. The Republic forbids the convicted to suffer unwanted physical contact in private areas, except for castration, and forbids causing excessive physical pain. Beating prisoners in a cell is not allowed because that is excessive when they aren't trying to escape or cause trouble for guards. Causing pain during execution by hanging or shooting is acceptable, but purposely shooting a spot to maim before the lethal shot would not. Castration without anesthetic and allowing alcohol is also excessive. Oh, actually that one punishment obviously doesn't apply to you since that's not on the book for girls" said Charles.

"What is castration and what do you mean by private areas?" said Tanya. Tanya already knew the answer, but when Charles replied she knew her psychological manipulation was working. She could imagine Charles trying to mime his groin only to remember he was on a telephone as his words awkwardly came out.

Tanya was thinking of the implications this had on society. She vaguely remembered in her previous world, gender biased infanticide caused some social problems for Asian countries on the mainland due to a gender mismatch. It was all skewed towards males, but for the sake of symmetry, she was going to assume a mismatch in the other direction would cause problems too. In her current world, America suffered more casualties than the Empire, but it was less heavily biased towards men than the rates suffered by her own country. In both countries, the lion's share of casualties actually hit the civilian populations due to pandemics that raged around the world. From the perspective of normalizing sex ratios, taking away females from a region which is heavily skewered towards them and putting them in a region with a smaller skewer will decrease society problem caused by a gender imbalance.

Of course there were other things to consider besides gender ratios. Resources should be put where they can maximize average happiness. Normally, rebuilding a demolished society with partial infrastructure takes fewer resources than to make an advanced economy more prosperous. If a 30 km telephone line from one station to another is missing 1 km of wiring, the whole line is worthless but can easily be fixed with a small amount of input. Human resources are likewise better put rebuilding partial infrastructure that has working component than being relocation. Even with import restriction, rebuilding is a lower lying fruit.

Also, the whole point of a productive economy is to make the average human happier. Since being forcibly taken away from one's homeland permanently is presumably unpleasant, even if it were not for rebuilding being a more productive use of resources, this was a bad move. On top of that, eugenics would seem to imply forced nonmating for undesirables and forced mating for high quality genetic stock. Given the blond blue eyed and pale skinned females were being taken by Americans for this very reason, presumably any disutility they will suffer greatly exceeds any happiness American servicemen with no girl waiting at home (otherwise they would just pass) will get from a one night stand.

There was also the problem with slaying of the mates, fathers, or infant bothers of those taken. The argument given by the occupiers is that if the women taken had any ties to the Germany states, they might come back, so this fulfills their eugenics purpose. There are a number of flaws in this argument. The first is that the women are not really going to have a choice. The next is that even if they did, it doesn't make sense to slay a mate and leave the father alive and only slay the father when she is single. A third reason this argument doesn't make sense is that most people would consider a country that doesn't abuse them better than one they were kidnapped to even if their immediate family was completely dead. The extra deaths would further inhibit the ability to rebuild society. Once again, this was a bad use of human resources, or not even use but an outright waste.

However Tanya also understood this achieved the aims of her occupiers. They obviously don't care about average happiness, but their own. The Republic wants revenge of Arene. There Americans want revenge for their citizens dying before the war. The Entente wants revenge for the battle of the fjord, which they considered a sneak attack enough though Imperials wore uniforms the entire time. The American president wants to be reelected and eugenics is popular among his country. He also wants to please his family and rumor has it that his son was having a relation with a girl in Oldenburg but her family does not approve.

In her past life, Tanya might have been able to sympathize with the victims who were in effect legally kidnapped. Her ability for Empathy was restricted, but this was different than being completely indifferent to the suffering. However, Tanya really didn't really care about the welfare of them per say. Now, as it had been for well over a decade, her primary concern was her own welfare not the average welfare. In this case, this was going to be very bad not matter how this turned out. While Tanya was glad she wasn't subject to that punishment, even if she was acquitted, this means the society she will be returning to will be impoverished for even longer. Tanya missed not only the food she once ate in her former life, but conveniences as computers, air conditioning, high quality videos, and so on. With an impoverished Prussia, even some of what was once available in the Empire might be in short supply.

Once again, Tanya was escorted to the courtroom with large mana inhibitors. The prosecution switched to another incident. The prosecutor focused on a raid done by Tanya and a small copany on a cruise ship bounded for the Allied Kingdom.

"The blond girl had killed the first officer and caused engine damage to the triple screw system. Only the turbine engine and central propeller was in usable condition. She had started a coal fire that took days to put out. We were seven days from Liverpool and the damage prevented us from arriving for several days" said a former crewman.

"Under what condition did my client kill the first officer?" said Harold.

"The girl started taking photographs of some cargo with the other six. The crew was told to get out of the way and let them work. The first mate pulled out a revolver and started to load. I didn't even know he had one. The girl blasted him with magic, causing flying debris. We had metal capable of sparking unlike maritime regulation, so this started a coal fire that had to be put out by smoldering and removing coal bit by bit" said the crewman. He was left to leave the stand

Harold then called in his own witness, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Frank. "What orders were assigned to Major Degurechaff?' said Harold.

"We had reliable intelligence that this civilian ship was heading towards Algeria after Liverpool to supply the Republic with weapons. We have had Major Degurechaff board seven ships before and destroy smuggled weapons covertly. This time we wanted documentation, which would take longer than simple sabotage or throwing overboard. This was complicated by the act that she had not boarded during loud festivities, so the crew likely heard the landing" said the officer.

"Did you get documentation of smuggled weapons?" said Harold.

"The first mate was an American civilian on a civilian ship and was murdered by the defendant. In fact, we all remember the outrage that the Americans had when they found about it, this was one of the contributors that lead to the declaration of war. The photographs were already publicly available information in America and the public never cared for them, but only had anger. Likewise, this court has no use for the photos, judge please strike them away and instruct the jury to ignore them" said the prosecutor.

"Photographs of the incident in question is relevant to the case. They may be admitted" said the judge.

"Here are the photographs. There are 3 305 mm cannons, a 120 mm cannon, and 35 mm cannons. In addition, there are artillery shells, some raw gunpowder and millions of bullets for the battle rifles. The passenger ship literally had seven times as much smuggled goods as passenger cargo. Major Tanya Degurechaff was told to capture a conspirator, but she killed all seven after they pulled out their weapons. She then notified the crew of the fires and took a box of bullets close to the fires. As can be seen with the crewmen in these photographs, they are unmistakably the correct crew" said Michel.

"A neutral country may sell weapons to a belligerent, but it must notify other belligerents and cannot use civilian ships to transport them. The United States of America had violated both of those rules and yet they are being left off the hook" said Harold.

"This is irrelevant, it only applies to countries that are actual states. States are not obligated to follow the rules against de facto nations" said the prosecutor. Harold gave a "really?" look at the judge who shrugged and gave a "not my fault" face.

Harold tried calling witnesses from the Central Intelligence Agency. Tanya was surprised such a thing existed when she was briefed on that mission, but quickly found out it had few similarities to the one she knew of, other than clandestine operations. In particular, this CIA wasn't being nearly incompetent enough. Three witnesses refused to testify in the zone of truth. One finally allowed himself to speak. "The first mate was indeed working for the agency. He six others on the ship had the same immediate superior. There are two lays of subordinates between me and him, so I have no idea what he was doing. The only reason I now know he and operatives were on the boat is the comparison of the killed in action names with the agency's employment registry. I do remember it had something vaguely to do with Europe and it was not an intelligence operation" said the man.

"As you can see, this is another example of the defendant unnecessarily killing a civilian" said the prosecutor.

"Since the first mate and other crew members had directly violated international law, my client had the right to give them an extrajudicial killing. These people were endangering civilian lives by putting a military target inside a civilian ship. Instead, she was going to capture three and order the others to get on a lifeboat with seven days of supplies. Due to an oversight, she had not bound the hands of the conspirators. The seventh one attracted my client's attention, allowing the unbound captives to do things with their hands. This includes taking out guns and attempting to shoot uniformed military personnel while they themselves were in civilian clothing, another violation" said Harold.

"The first mate had not fired a shot. As you know, there is a pistol range upstairs on the ship. The defendant had no way of knowing that he wasn't going to go there to practice a few shots" said the prosecutor. The courtroom adjourned for a break.

"Now if only the spectators were the jury" said Tanya.

"I provide the best counsel no matter the innocence of my client" said Harold.

"You think I'm guilty too?" said Tanya.

"Plenty of clients lie to me. Based on what the prosecution submitted, it would seem their case is weak, so I don't think you are guilty. That said, the jury selection reminds me of a jury of a sexual assault in America with a black defendant" said Harold.

Later that day, another incident was going to be focused. The prosecution brought an incident in the Tunisia campaign. A city was captured with 700,000 survivors. Three Imperial infantry divisions backed up by artillery and cavalry prepared to stay. Due to logistical issues, the troops were not to move for another month. Ammunition was plentiful, but food was going to be a problem and providing off the locals was deemed undesirable. Tanya's mage battalion was waiting in the city for redeployment to the north Mediterranean.

"Corporal Franz Hollande, did the defendant use the public baths?" said the prosecutor.

"Yes, we had coopted the building upon capture of the city" said the infantryman.

"Is there a reason you took the building?" said the prosecutor.

"The previous owner was recognized as a partisan who dropped his weapon. His wife appeared to be innocent. We convinced her to let us rent out the building for three weeks in exchange for some cash. We thought this could boost morale a bit" said Corporal Franz.

"Is it true that Major Degurechaff decided to go into the men's bath on April 8th of that year?" said the prosecutor.

"Yes but…" said Corporal Franz.

"We don't need to hear anymore from you. The defendant is a deviant" said the prosecutor.

"Allow the witness to finish" said Harold.

"The witness cannot be cutoff short of contempt of court. Proceed with the testimony"

"The women's baths were not working due to damage done to the city. While very little shelling was used to take the city, there were plenty of stray bullets. There was not a good alternative. We did put up a sign telling civilians they were barred from entry" said Corporal Franz.

"Thank you" said Harold. His next tactic was to call in three eyewitnesses who vouched for the previous bath owner with weapons. Harold then remembered what the subject to this incident was about in his briefing and realized he had wasted time gathering these witnesses.

The prosecutor brought out an adolescent red haired boy he wore a red polo shirt. He was somewhat tall. "I introduce you Jean-Marie Malcolm, our victim of the defendant's behavior. Tell me, what you saw that day?" said the prosecutor.

"Well, I asked the lady if she was in business, but she just simply said to wait. I came around a few days later and she wasn't there. I entered the baths. You know, they are really large and can hold hundreds of people at a time. I passed an unintelligible sign in German" said the boy.

"Because you can't read German you idiot" said someone in the audience.

"Silence! I'll let you off with a warning" said the judge.

"Anyways I entered the men's baths and I saw a blond small girl in the nude. I stayed around for half an hour and then scurried away when I thought she was coming" said the red haired boy.

"As you can see, we have evidence of the defendant flashing herself in the men's baths to an innocent young man" said the prosecutor.

"Were you displeased at the sight?" said Harold.

"No. In fact, can I see Tanya like that again?" said the red haired boy, blushing.

"No! I don't want to!" screamed Tanya standing up and crossing her arms. She didn't really remember see this idiot before and as far as she was concerned nothing happened the three days she used the path prior to redeployment. Still, this spur of the moment act did provide another opportunity to try to elicit some public sympathy by acting all embarrassed.

"You said that you would not answer a question that can hurt my case" said the prosecutor.

"Sorry. But I can't lie to the face of that cute girl. I'm only three years older than her." said the boy.

"You couldn't really lie in the Zone of Truth; your only choices were the truth, silence, or visibly breaking it" said the judge.

"If he enjoyed the scene, my client obviously had not hurt him with any such displays of skin" said Harold.

"I can see why you thought this was beneath me. I don't even remember that kid" said Tanya aside to Harold.

That evening Lieutenant Cornelius Sørensen offered to let Tanya go to a restaurant. Rather than spending money on food to be brought to the barracks, she was going out. He had convinced his superiors to let her spend another meal outside of the barracks she was in conferment. The Lieutenant and his men lugged the heavy manna inhibitor.

"This is merely an excuse for me to pay for the dinners of seven strangers isn't it?" said Tanya with an odd smile.

"You can choose the restaurant miss" said Lieutenant Sørensen.

Tanya chose an Ilodan restraint and picked a dish loaded with mussels and pasta, with some beef, scallops, and salmon in it with red sauce. This was not something available to her during confinement as it couldn't be prepared in the barracks.

"Do you like Italian food?" said Tanya.

"Italian? Oh you mean Ilodan. That's an archaic demonym for the people and adjective for objects that come there. I don't know how much of history you know, but that area was made of many states. The geographical area was called 'Italy' and the southern 3/4 connected to the mainland was called 'The Italian Peninsula' after the region called 'Italia' from the Romans. The north part was what they called Cisalpine Gaul" said one guard.

"I'm a bit ashamed my own country is cooperating with this court" said Lieutenant Sørensen.

"So you know that they aren't playing by the rules?" said Tanya.

"In some sense they are as rules don't exist for non-countries like the Empire. But they certainly are violating the spirit of the rules. I watched today" said Lieutenant Cornelius Sørensen

Tanya could see doubts building behind the man's eyes. Hopefully she wouldn't ever need the help of a captor, but if goodwill can be gained at minimal cost, keeping every option open in case if the primary plan failed would be helpful.

"Why were the Americans giving the Republic war supplies?" said Tanya.

"I don't know. I'm half grateful. Without the Republic retaking the mainland from Algeria, the Entente would have no chance of winning. But it certainly was less honorable than anything the prosecutor can show that you did" said Lieutenant Sørensen.

"What do you think about the occupiers from the other countries?" said Tanya.

"The Republicans are usually feeling bitter. The Russy troops seem to just want to have fun. The troops from Dakia are well behaved. Most of the Americans seem just to be hanging out with each other making some music and talking about all the things they would like to do when they get home, while aloof to the locals except at bars" said the blond Lieutenant.

"Such as?" said Tanya.

"I've heard some of them want to have barbeques. Some of them are thinking of farm work, but imaging it to be more idyllic than I rememebered any farmer being. Maybe the climate there is better and framing is easy. Others just wanted to listen to records of some of their favorite pieces. And other would like to sleep with… ah" said the man, awkwardly stopping.

"Huh?" said Tanya.

"Well, it is something typically done in the bed and it is related to but distinct from what the prosecution accused you of doing to that boy in Tunisia province, only with both sides wanting to do it" said Lieutenant Sorenson, turning red.

"Why don't you continue about what you think of them?" said Tanya. This was as easy as the scream she made during the trial. She doubted this would work if she looked her age… either of them.

"Well, most of them are like that. However some of them are still single. They look at some of the locals and… well it seems your new country is being forced to comply with what I call legalized kidnapping" said Lieutenant Cornelius Sørensen. "And if you weren't on trial, I think you might fit the criteria they are looking for" This wasn't right. When he looked ate charge he was guarding, he didn't see The Devil of the Rhine the Republicans always talked about. Cornelius thought about his own sister. She was only a bit older. If the world was different, perhaps she might be fighting in the war. If the Empire won, would they just try to scapegoat her if she was a talented officer?

Tanya decided this man should be sparred if possible during her primary escape plan. She was mentally deciding between those who should be sparred, those that she didn't really care about their fates, and those she would love to put a bayonet inside.

Tanya also wondered why she started enjoying killing. The satisfaction of doing a job well done and being praised was much larger than the joy she got from the act itself, but she nevertheless enjoyed it. It was not enough to enjoy war, for her safety was paramount and any happiness she gained from killing was likely outweighed by that her time could be used more productively in peace. It was around the Rhine Front when she started feeling a change. She used to feel satisfaction from out-maneuvering enemy mages and beating them with talent instead of her raw power she kept in reserve. Early on she felt that she not only got that joy, but even the final blow started feeling good.

Lieutenant Cornelius Sørensen was wondering what on Earth must be going through his captive's head. Surly she was feeling hopeless as the trial seemed completely one sided. This would likely break someone even more effectively than the horrors of war. He wondered how the little girl was going to fare the next day. Maybe she might eventually believe that everyone believes her guilt.

The prosecutor had brought the case that Tanya had extended the war and unnecessarily raised the casualty rates. Harold's response to try to get that not considered a crime quickly was dismissed with the usual "Her country doesn't really exist therefore it lacks rights a lawful belligerent has" line of reasoning that had been used through the entire trial.

Harold then tried to focus on the source of casualties. As it turns out, even for the soldiers, death by battle was not particularly common. For the Empire, around 70% of military fatalities were from infections unrelated to battle wounds. The remainder 30% had a mixture of battle deaths, battle wounds, heat stroke, exhaustion and others. For the Americans, this amount exceeded 99%, for the Republicans and many others 90% was common.

Harold brought it several witnesses to talk about the plagues that had been traveling around the globe for the duration of the war. Even early on in the war, infection was a problem and cramming millions of people together with minimal sanitation took its toll. Disease had already made up a majority of casualties. There was little that could be done about the course of the diseases once infections set in. Magic was relatively useless for fighting infections. It is said that reattaching a limb with magic was possible, but if you see pus don't bother. The limb would reattach but the patient would almost certainly get blood poisoning. Likewise, many superficial wounds that are too dirty often turn into lethal infections once regenerative magic was used.

After several witnesses talking about the effect of disease in general on an army, Harold shifted focus to pandemics that butchered the world in the last three years of the war. He brought many experts on the bubonic plague caused bv Yersinia pestis.

"In the 1300s, the Black Death had decimated Europe. It has been known that with certain types of infections, an individual will not reacquire while others will. Once this had made its course through the population, the plague apparently died out. However, the causative organism remained alive. In the middle phases of the war, a new strain emerged in the Allied Kingdom's colony in India. This was a very deadly form of disease, sometimes killing within 8 hours. Three quarters have the more usually course of symptoms over several days such as fevers, bubos, muscle pain, blood vomiting, and gastrointestinal problems. Due to high concentrations of the population in the cities of modern times, the casualty rate of this disease exceeds earlier outbreaks. Containment measures were haphazard and uncoordinated. Symptomatic relief to victims was sporadic and sometimes not given. The hardest hit region was the Americas, where it hit last. The human population had a 70% drop over the course of the war, and around 70% of that is attributed to the plague" said one MD who also was a pathologist and intensely following the plague.

"This is just one of the several diseases that had been running pandemic during the war. Normally an outbreak is restricted to a certain area and a few cities succumb at most. However, during the last three years of the war, we have seen multiple epidemics that would normally have been localized to a few hundred kilometers from their origins. We still don't know why they tuned into global epidemics. We do know that the Empire had an opportunity to stop them by completely shutting down boarders, but troops on the frontlines generally let civilians pass" said the doctor.

The rest of the day continued with experts talking about one single plague. Tanya had mixed feeling about this. On one hand, it was obvious that Harold was doing every he could to try to get her free. On the other hand, it was almost certainly pointless with everything stacked against her. The longer this took, the more time she would have to iron out details. Based on an ad placed by Viktoriya, they had narrowed down the possible number of locations she would be permanently confined to if she was to be detained. Also they determined any site of execution would be within the territory the Empire used to occupy. Tanya was allowed one phone call which would not be used against her in court, an inherited right from American presence on the court. This was relatively pointless, because even the Americans would just listen and even if they didn't take it to court, additional evidence wasn't excluded the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine, unlike say evidence gained from an illegal interrogation.

That evening Tanya was reading a file on one of her visitors. Lieutenant Cornelius Sørensen brought some limited information the Republic had about him. Apparently, the rules of her confinement allowed one uninvited visitor a week that wasn't court related. Anyone with a million pounds could pay for the right to spend time talking to her, or if multiple people wanted to see her a bidding war could start. The money would be split between the judge, court, and Budapest's justice system. Tanya found it amusing that the occupation designed a perfectly efficiency first price auction, but they were too dense to realize that war is an unproductive act. The Entente started the war and the Republicans escalated it. The American intervention brought the whole thing into a world war, and might have accelerated the spread of the pandemics. This visitor's ticket was covered by George Valois. According to Tanya's guard, Valois didn't know much about the visitor but thought he sounded crazy and thought it would be a waste to let the first "once a week meeting" go to waste since he doubted the trial would take more than a month. As a result, Tanya and her guards knew more information about the visitor that was coming in than the one who funded the meeting.

Tanya skimmed through. Tanya didn't' think much at first. Grew up in Berchtesgaden, volunteered for the army, fought in the quick and victorious Republic-Empire War of 1914... Suddenly she scowled at the details.

It was true her country was very similar to a country from 20th century Europe in the past of the world Tanya once came from. However, there were differences that built up over time. For example, for the past three hundred years, none of the monarchs seemed to match. Countries changed names and many capitals changed names while most cities like Worms, Germany was still Worms, Empire. The Allied Kingdom's new young monarch, Elizabeth V did look like a dead ringer for a picture of a seven year old Elizabeth II Tanya once saw, but Tanya didn't know anything about her personality. Besides, sometimes kids look similar if you see them in still pictures as opposed to in motion in the flesh.

There were other putative figures Tanya thought were similar to the 20th century Europe and important. In this case, she considered not just appearances but behavior. The first was George Valois seemed like Georges Benjamin Clemenceau, from his political party and his look. "Make the Empire Pay" was almost a copied slogan. However, George Valois was a fan of child pornography and drunk a lot more. This prime minister also was a previously very successful doctor, not a failed one. Furthermore, he seemed to have had past charisma but lost his touch to charm people in face to face contact, now relying on speeches.

Tanya almost had a heart attack when early in her officer training she saw a paper talking about the raise of Joseph Stalin, "man of steel." She started feeling relieved when the papers described him as a hands-off dictator who preferred to party and show off his muscles. Stalin was a bit of a bodybuilder. This world manage dot get other details wrong. He looked similar like the Stalin she had in mind, but similarities seemed to end there he was an ethnic Georgian but was raised in Kiev. Three years into his dictatorship, he fell into a severe fever and all of the Russy Union prayed for his survival. When he recovered Stalin lost all his head hair. He ordered all German speaking civilians to be put to forced labor on collective farms. Then he started a war of the Eastern Orthodox Church, possibility due to the three separate plots to other throw his predecessor by said church (as an organization, not its entire congregation obviously), ordering people to convert to Catholicism or be an atheist like him or else violence. Tanya didn't know whether to cheer him on or be glad she wasn't reincarnated there. Stalin ordered anti revolution conspirators to be purged and more farms to be seized and turns into collectives. He had incest with three sisters and married a woman nine months pregnant so he wouldn't have to wait for a heir. He micromanaged the train schedule, which caused harvests to rot while cities starved. While the communists managed to have cause many people to flee, they didn't manage to lose 70% of their population… without a plague, food shortage, or war going on. Was this Stalin like the one she once learned about or was he simply a different character in Being X's stupid tapestry?

A third focus was the American president. He had similarities to Woodrow Wilson, including a face and stature as well as an entire copy of pre-war domestic policies. Like Wilson, he had a secret plan to smuggle arms into a war. Like Wilson, he segregated the United States Federal government. Like Wilson, he was keen to carve up central Europe into separate countries. But here too similarities only went so far. The American president's surname did start with a W but the name was different. He went further with his eugenics, killing 35,000 undesirables through forced labor, as well as countless sterilization. Woodrow Wilson may or may not have liked the German genetic stock, but he would not authorize kidnapping of thousands of women even if his political party supported it. Tanya reconsidered that one. Maybe he would have if his political party supported.

Three historical figures with psudo counterparts in this world had been identified. Tanya was often able to predict the actions of these three people. Unfortunately, none of them were any use. Predicting scandals and political maneuvers was useless. Knowing their military plans didn't say much because she knew they gave vague instructions to generals, who would do whatever through thought made sense. On the other hand, her other attempts to find others to make predictions failed. Time again anytime she saw a similarity, there were so many differences it would be necessary to treat the person as a separate identity and not a discount historical figure.

When Tanya learned about Kaiser Charles X von Hapsburg's intervention with his generals on the Rhine front, she thought about Wilhelm II. The problem was that their courses of actions were very different. Charles X was not jingoistic by choice. Charles X von Hapsburg often listened to the advice of his parliament, even though the military pointed out three of those times were pretty stupid. Charles X's modifications to plans on the Rhine front worked well. For a three year period at the end of the war, Charles had radios passed along and was receiving information from 3 lower generals, 1 major, and 320 Lieutenants. Often times he would point out a detail in the plan and the officer would either already have it covered or not realize he missed it. Charles X von Hapsburg was a decent tactician, but he rarely interfered with higher ranked generals. He knew how to optimize the probability of winning a battle or getting a unit facing impossible odds to escape, but deciding what battles to fight was "too boring." Tanya figured this man might computer games. There was also the fact that outside of the military and his court, he was more like a teenager than a man. In the end, the only similarities were interfering with a war that ended up being a losing one.

Tanya thought she found a fourth one. And she really wanted to be wrong. She didn't want to meet the man and let the man give her his thoughts. If this guy got his ideas about racial superiority from the American eugenics program it would be one thing. However, Tanya had a feeling those ideas were native.

"Mr. Hartler is here" said Sørensen. Another blond man walked in, and that was where their physical similarities ended. The new man was 7 cm shorter and somewhat overweight, while having somewhat muscular arms. He wore a red polo shirt.

"Hello Lieutenant General Tanya von Degurechaff" said Hartler.

"I'm not a von anymore. There is the noble von, which makes up 75% of them according to a census, and the non noble von. In Prussia, those with the noble one lost the name appendage with our nobility. In most of the successor states, they just lost nobility" said Tanya in a voice of self-pity.

"The Treaty of Copenhagen is an injustice!" said Hartler.

"You and I have one thing in agreement" said Tanya.

"I have come to show you paintings I made" said the blond visitor. He handed over some painting. Tanya opened the packaging. One of them was of a Mediterranean coastline with three trees in the foreground. Another was of Tanya herself making her stand in her first fight. There were details altered. Tanya looked more heroic and less unhinged. The time to the day was wrong. But this was a beautiful piece nevertheless. A third painting was of a farm with fairies coming out a night and an angel with dove wings overlooking the sleeping farmer. Maybe Tanya had jumped to conclusions reading the dossier?

"They are beautiful" said Tanya, shifting to cute mode. It was too late to go with the cute voice, but she modified her tone and face accordingly.

"I improved over my years at Vienna" said Hartler.

"What do you want from me? Words of encouragement? Do you want me to buy them? I do have some money left, although I won't be able to use it once I'm convicted" said Tanya.

"The paintings are gifts. I can make more. I just to let you know, the people of Austria and Barvaria, no the people of the Empire have not abandoned you. Right now, my party is doing one of two things. We are attempting to gain control of the parliament and demand the occupiers to hand you over. Or we can simply use brute force" said Hartler.

"No thanks. If I wanted to evade the trial, I could have done so at any time. I intend to see it to the end and the public must see" said Tanya. If Tanya didn't have her own plan, she would gladly accept one with a mere 1/3000 chance of success even if it came from someone despicable. This man might not be all that bad. Still, a mob was bound to backfire and she had calculated better ways to get out.

"But we need you. You are Tanya 'White Silver' Degurechaff. You are an inspirational figure for the people. You saved the Rhine front many times. And the Americans are taking our high quality genetic stock. You are the perfection of human quality. Blond, blue eyed, and skin as white as snow, this is what we need to a superior race. If we can't shake off the occupiers this generation, we need you to be alive to make the next" said Hartler.

"I am more than a womb!" said Tanya, instantly stiffening. Oh, this is what the guy wanted. More of this eugenics thing. The idea that environmental input has an effect on human behavior seems to be above the minds of these people. Tanya in both lives worked hard to get to status and respect. "I read about this local nationalistic party you belong to. You joined recently as a part timer and make speeches. Tell me about this" said Tanya

"I retired from the Army after the 1914 war. I was mostly doing some studies and I got an inspiration or 'muse.' I continued into the war. Once we lot, I instantly regretted not telling the army to mobilize me even though I retired. I found the party leader Dexler n a pub and we got drunk. After a few debates, he said I had the gift of gab. I did do three public speeches and got a lot of attention. I think we went from a hundred or so party group to bigger. The polls expect us to take 3% of the Bavarian parliament. I don't really think this is really worth my time, but if they just want me to wave and show up at the ballot instead of speeches, I can do that" said the man.

"I read your party's manifesto. You demand an end to reparations and my freedom. You seek a restoration of the monarchy, but don't expect Charles to be ready to take it just yet, so you would be running a caretaker government until the time is right. You want agricultural support and lowered bureaucracy. You support eugenics, but you are divided into several factions. One group simply wants to pay 'high quality breeding stock' to have more children. Another group wants to do that and segregate undesirables such as feebleminded. Your party is explicitly Ani-Semitic" said Tanya.

"Don't you realize that not only did many of them supported the revolution, but plenty of them showed their true colors at the voting booth? We had 3 elections between the first two revolutions. In the first one, 75% of Jews who voted for the Social democrats. In the third one, almost all the Jews either voted for the Social democrats, the Communists, or the Guild party" said Hartler.

"Technically you are right. I'm not sure I agree with the idea of boycotting the business of these people or giving each one 10 years of hard labor to reeducate them, but political power should be taken away for those who voted for those traitors. They have no more right to vote than some people in America who receive government handouts… and then vote for presidents who want to raise taxes on people. If your government want to keep you from starving, that's OK, but if that happens shouldn't decide what to do with other people's money" said Tanya, slowly raising her voice.

"And you know who else didn't vote in those elections? Me. I was too busy fighting for the fatherland to care about elections for politicians who will mismanage the war when I received a seven days' notice. In fact, only 0.0333% of the entire surviving eligible population who was still there voted. People were framing or dealing with the plague. Others knew the idiot revolutionaries would win the first election and a single vote wouldn't change that. In fact, a loyalist was more likely to stay home than a radical. And who else didn't vote? 300,000 soldiers who had homes in the NGF but who fled south to join royalist forces in Austria. And on top of that there were 3.1 million civilian households who fled too. Sure this makes up a minority of the population and they don't count to the 'who were still there' party. These were the royalists, who had more loyalty than anyone, and plenty of Jews went along there with them. In fact, three of your neighbors are example of the royalists I'm talking about. These people didn't stay the Empire in the back, they stuck to it with the risk of never returning home. They were more loyal than you who drank the revolutionary days away with beer or even me, who continued to fight a war against external enemies while traitors took Berun! Sure those who supported the fall of the monarchy did stab us in the back, but your sense is illogical. It was as if I gave you the weight and age of a person and asked you to determine the gender. Well, dudes are heavier right? You are making assumptions about people's intentions with insufficient information!" shouted Tanya, escalating her tirade against her visitor.

The man stepped back a meter and was clearly shocked. "What should I do?" he said.

"Do you truly look up to me?" said Tanya.

"You are a bigger hero than me and you meet all the criteria of being of the highest race except height. And you're still growing" said the man.

"Then do as I say. Forget about breaking me out. For your party, do what you want at election, but keep your mouth shut and don't help in part activities or speeches. Remember, not everyone needs to be of the 'best genetic stock'" said Tanya, finally looking at her visitor. His appearance surprised her, including the blond hair.

"Your skin isn't as pure white as you would like and your eyes are not like mine. You did fight for the fatherland in a war. Furthermore, many other Imperials from different background all fought. It was only a minority of individuals who participated and supported the revolutions" continued Tanya softening her tone.

"Allow your assessment of an induvial to overcome what you think of the group. Stay out of politics except when election day comes. Forget party activities. Keep to your paintings. It's something you actually manage to do right unlike the other one. And if I really am all that to you, don't forget me" finished Tanya. She had calmed down somewhat. Tanya wondered if all cute expression would have been better at persuasion, but she did not have enough time to think this conversation all the way through. If Being X was going to force the issue, he'll pay!

"The Empire will enjoy my work" said Hartler. He gave a salute and walked away.

Days piled on with the trial as Harold brought many witnesses. There was the Black Death mentioned earlier. There were three E. Coli outbreaks which spread across all continents. One of them had an enzyme which broke cross linkage of collagen and fibrin. Another variant had produced an extra endotoxin. The third one had the ability to invade the biliary tract from the intestines. All of them had additional All acquired the ability to cause extensive intestinal damage and diarrhea. Immunity to one conferred useful immunity to neither of the other two.

There were other concurrent plagues. There was Cholera, Dysentery, and Tuberculosis. Between thee seven global pandemics, counting the Bubonic Plague, the population was greatly reduced. Even among the military, these made yup the lion's share of the deaths. To add insult to injury, a flu from Iberia went to the Americas and ravaged much of that too, although its effect on Europe was not insignificant.

"The Americans were responsible for their own casualties. I call General Washington to the stand" said Harold. A white haired short man stepped up.

"Unlike the Empire which resorted to universal male conscription in the end, we stuck with a draft system where people were picked by lottery. 60,000 women and 192,000 men were drafted. The United States sent 70% of its manpower, drafts and volunteers on the Ghana campaign. We faced three battles over the next week with the Republic soldiers who were in a false flag operation we didn't really know about. Each battle lasted hours and took many lives. From here was a 32 day forced march, where many died from heat and exhaustion despite theoretically adequate provisions during this time. Water ran out for 3 days before supply was reestablished, costing many lives. Over the next month 70% of what was left were infected with Salmonella contained drinking water. When this campaign was over with an American victory, 99.9% of the survivors who were not dispatched by heat, combat, or disease were sent to the Tunisia campaign. Once again, no precautions were taken against diseases. There was a short resurgence of the bubonic plague in the region. Another 30% were killed by disease in the next seven days after landing. This is followed by the victory of the entire army vs three scattered Imperial infantry divisions with no mage support. Zero were taken prisioner and we lsot many. Due to the bodies contaminating the wells, we had more disease problems. Once the Tunisia campaign was over, 67% of the survivors of this group went to fight a third campaign in the Republic. Unfortunately, the Chinese states brought one of those intestinal bugs. 90% of our who survived up to this point were infected and most died because the water ratios did not account for diarrhea again. Other untis that did not go through this triple campaign did better. Some only did the republic campaign. Others were in Iloda or the geeland sized island west of US owned by the Empire. Of course, the seven bacterial plagues that went across the world didn't really spare anyone" said General Washington.

"It is true that my client did inflict a lot of casualties on her foes. However, this is an oversimplification. The seven bacterial plagues, with a bit of flu to add insult to injury, devastated humans worldwide. Only the Allied Kingdom with 25% loss ended the time period with more than half its starting population. In addition, it seems the Americans were having trouble controlling even normal local diseases" said Harold.

"When many of the Rpublican soliers stood and made a Last Stand against the Empire's counterattack, my country was proud. However, we have many examples of Imperials doing the same thing, both during the initial attack when its Western Forces were forced to be a punching bag for two months, during the retaking of Algeria, and during the final days of the war. What these people did were not notable sacrifices for their country because the Empire had no right to exist. All they did was prolong the war and suffering by fighting even when it was clear you…I mean they lost" said the prosecutor.

"I'll give you documents that prove Tanya Degurechaff cost many civilian lives" she continued.

The first witness was an Imperial General of the Western Forces. He was called to read one of Tanya's first theses. It was about supply depots and logistics chain. The situation was simplified to a glorified producer consumer problem with several nodes in between and irregular consumption. Modifications to the supply chain greatly helped the war effort be allowing more supplies to b moved with less interruptions and fuel. In addition, it provided contingencies for shortages, such as fresh water. Dysentery showed up early in the war, although this didn't seem to be the salmonella one that caused a pandemic later.

"Would central have been able to commit its forces to the Entente fojd offensive without this paper?" said the prosecutor.

"It's possible but I doubt it. To achieve the same level of movement with an unanticipated change it would take triple the fuel using the old plans, suing a lot of resources. If the government allocated it to us it would be possible. However with diarrhea preventing us from using wells and low fresh water, we could have incurred many casualties. If this happened, the most probable outcome would be to send reinforcements to the Rhine, with everyone carrying seven days of water. In addition pack animals would be coopted to solve the problem. I doubt that offensive in the north would be done, it would leave the Rhine Theatre too vulnerable"

Did the thesis help in the central part of the war once the Republic's continental holdings were occupied?" said the prosecutor.

"Yes" said the general.

The prosecutor turned his attention to another paper and hydrologist. He wore a sit and classes. This talked about sanitation. While scientists knew human waste should be kept from groundwater, there was only piecemeal waste disposal. "Then Lieutenant Degurechaff asked me several questions on some of the understanding of the water systems in nature. I found this paper of hers a few years later that she wrote in War College. It was about systemic burial of wastes based on nearby elevation, soil, water supplies, and vegetation. The Western Forces used these to minimize disease there" said the hydrologist.

"I call in Dr. Schemer, one of the leaders in charge of controlling the black death" said the prosecutor. A man in a white garb and black hair appeared.

"Lieutenant Colonel Degurechaff suggested means to try to control the plague. Basic sanitation was getting difficult because so many bodies in cities were piling up and there were rotting everywhere. As you know, its difficult to contain an outbreak when washing hands isn't enough. We can't make susceptible people immune and we can't treat infections other that alieving symptoms. We tried the normal containment methods, but they didn't work and quarantine was impossible during a war that took so much of the army. In the cities of Berun, Prague, Vienna, Worms, Budapest, Frankfurt, and Kongsberg went through experimental quarantine followed by a rat slaughter followed by draining blood pools. The results were positive, although the demands of the frontlines meant we were unable to do quarantine again" said Dr. Schemer.

"And I bring in administrator Mary Strauss" said the prosecutor. A brown haired woman in a long skirt entered. "What is your job and can you explain this third thesis from the defendant?"

"Yes. This one is about attempting to discourage partisans. While most of these don't involve the cities, this was focused on countryside partisans. It was mentioned that the British Army and later Allied Kingdom would pay requisitioned material with military script, to be redeemable at the end of the war if their side won. The payments relieved were face value, although arguably the amount paid was one third of the goods nominal value. This made them less hated than the Prussians, French, Italian States, or Turks who would simply loot supplies, or sometimes valuables. This paper recommends using the a similar script when requisitioning In addition, it talks about ways to find edible plants in no less than three different climates, so if food runs out antagonizing the locals is not needed immediately. It also talks about how to pass through rural property such as farms while causing minimal damage when the roads are inadequate. Obviously, these marches are slower than a full one, but if not under duress, this can be done" said the propaganda officer.

"Does the defense have anything to say?" said the prosecutor.

"We have nothing to say. All you have demonstrated that the defendant has helped her superiors, helped provision symptomatic relief for dysentery, and avoided antagonizing the locals" said Harold.

"This is exactly the point. Over 90% of the Americans deployed died during the war, while the Empire's casualty rate of 60% is less than the Republic, America, the Russy Union, or any of the seven Chinese states. You do recall that one of the charges was being responsible for the differential in casualty rates and extending the war. I also note that the third thesis is nothing more than ideas on how to brainwash people of the occupied countries, showing that if partisan actions is not done all will be normal" said the prosecutor. Tanya didn't think these three papers would be used against her. The Arene was slightly came back to haunt her, not in her conscience, but due to the one sidedness of the whole situation. Revenge for a shelled city that was a direct result of the Republic not following the rules of war or the Treaty of Londinium

That night, Tanya was getting somewhat confident. Her allies have figured out that she would be locked in a prison next t Rouen if… or when she was convicted. They wouldn't be communicating with her in the classified ads if they were about to chicken out right?

"Telephone" said a guard.

"Who is this?" said Tanya.

"Charles X von Hapsburg, King of Austria" said the man behind the telephone.

"Is there anything you want your majesty?" said Tanya.

"What do you want?" said Charles.

"I want… respect and praise" said Tanya, who was being completely honest. "And more than from you. I also want t make sure I'm not forgotten"

"I shall make it so that your heroics are not lost to the abyss. This will be difficult to do as the world looks at me, but I can do it" said Charles X.

"Don't they see I'm innocent?' said Tanya.

"The world is complicated. You are a pure soul" said Charles X. The two of them discussed some of the events that were happening. Bavaria seemed to be getting radicalized, but at least it was getting less nationalist and more reactionary. Charles had a stash of wealth which will help during the recovery. He was also trying to petition to remove the artificial fertilizer restriction. Unfortunately, it seems this year would be a low harvest even without that restriction.

On the final day of the trial, Tanya was denied access to the courtroom for three hours. During this time, the families of 37 separate republican mages she killed were testifying about something. When she arrived, she was told by some guards that she could not enter because her face could contaminate the witnesses' authenticity if they saw her.

"So THAT"S why she's late? Let the defendant and her counsel in!" said the judge. Meanwhile, the last family member was testifying about the loss of her husband and the hardship that had been incurred.

"Do you think the Devil of The Rhine is a monster in a child's body? Should she be removed from the world?" said the preocutor.

"Yes!" screamed the woman.

"No shouting!" said the judge.

Tanya reached her place. It seems like things were wrapping up. The prosecutor then showed seven different Operation Orbs' recordings of Tanya in battle. In three of them she gave the enemy a reprise to back off but only got shot at for her troubles, or in one case a decoy of hers. She remembered one of them, fighting a whole squad of Republican named mages and giving them a chance thinking they were forced into he war and didn't want to fight like her.

The audiences squirmed. None of them could see the small image from the operation orb and someone just recoded it for a mechanical television and replayed it for everyone. In the last moments of the redoing a young blond girl was talking with sincere eyes.

"Please save us from the invasion of the heretics. O God, grant me the powers to slay our enemies" Tanya inwardly grimaced as she remembered the prayers she had to spit out to Being X just to not blow up.

"I hereby declare to those that are present, you are currently intruding upon the Empire's territory" It's like a child wondering why there are bullies. Tanya looked so pitiful, but behind her tone was also a sense of duty.

"Lament not of our fate, for the Lord hath not forsaken us!" the operation orb's recoding started to falter as special distortions appeared in the air. The recoding then glowed and stopped. As the recoding capability, or indeed almost all functions of the orb, were destroyed, there was no way overwrite the last 7 recordings.

"We see that Tanya Degurechaff has committed many war crimes established before the war and a few ones that have been made after this war. She is a monster in a child's body. We have just seen her showing excessive cruelty" said the prosecutor.

"Lieutenant General Tanya Degurechaff has done nothing other than being an efficient officer. Her knowledge has helped save many from suffering logistics problems, which can kill. The American adventure in Ghana shows that nyone who forgets the supply chain would suffer casualties even independent of the pandemics going on in the world. She is one who worked hard to save her doomed country. This is the reason the prosecution hunts her down, just because they hate what she did not due to war crimes" said Harold.

The jury deliberated for 5 minutes. Given it was entirely populated by those from the victorious countries, the verdict wasn't too surprising. The prosecutor grinned, she had won. "The jury finds Tanya Degurechaff guilty of the killing of civilians, excessive cruelty on the battlefield, looting, killing of an American citizen prior to declaration of war, raising the casualty rate of Americans, Chinses, and Turkish armies above Imperial rates, prolonging the conflict, and being a monster in a child's body. The jury acquits her of sexual assault" said George Valois, jury foreman. The crowd burst into an uproar and the judge couldn't stop it.

"I thought the jury was made of military guys" siad Tanya.

"All but one" said Harold.

Objects were thrown and people were clubbed. Dozens of Republican spectators and three mages who couldn't respond in time were killed and many others wounded. Tanya decided that she might as well make of the curse that Being X put into the stupid orb.

"People! Why are you doing this?" said Tanya, putting on wide eyes.

"The trial is a sham. You know it too White Silver!" said one man.

"I know I'm innocent. But we can't destroy property of other people. The courtroom belongs to the city of Budapest. Don't waste my last sacrifice" said Tanya. The crowd calmed down a little bit but was still obviously agitated.

"Don't tarnish my memory with destruction against my will. God wouldn't approve of it" said Tanya.

"What did he say about framing people?" said another spectator.

"What the Republic is doing is wrong, but we mustn't sin. God knows his faithful. If he doesn't reward us this life, it will be the next" said Tanya. She really hoped it was a myth that you don't convince yourself of a lie by saying it over and over.

"What should be done?" said a member of the mob.

"Remember this injustice. But the poor can't do anything. We must enrich society. His involves heard work and following rules. Don't take other people's property of legalize it through high taxation. Once enriched, you can bring the attention of this to the Republic. These people have sinned, but I don't want you to add to it. If you sinned before today, remember we are all Imperials and I forgive your past sins" said Tanya. She turned her head towards the jury. The crowd was mollified and outrage was replaced with sadness and tranquil furry.

"Why? I did everything by the rules while partisans cheated. This is our land and our skies. Why do you wish to destroy the fatherland? Why do you kidnap all these heartbroken, and some are as young as 5! Have I done anything worth so much contempt?" cried Tanya.

"The morale of our mages is worth more than you" said George shoving off a mod guy. His bodyguard was knocked out and he was thrown to the ground and had his bones cracked on his left hip, a left rib, and left leg. The irony of the man accusing a girl of being a monster in a child's body being saved by her words was not lost by Tanya. Tanya knew that while her intentions were impure, she did no wrong actions in her past life and current life.

"You are sentenced to humiliation and life in prison" he continued. With that Tanya Degurechaff was led away in chains, along with seven guards carrying her inhibitor. She wasn't planning to stay long.

Author's Note: This goes without saying, but just as the original light novel characters do not represent the views of the author and in the anime the characters do not represent the views of NUT, none of the characters in this fanfiction are supposed to represent the view of the author. The events of this story are not an ideal of what should happen.


	3. Chapter 3 part 1

Humiliation and Retaliation

Budapest 1931

For the next seven days after the trial, Lieutenant General Tanya Degurechaff

was kept in the barracks. The occupation forces would decide her humiliation, following this Tanya would be transferred to a prison, supposedly for the rest of her life. If "being a monster in a child's body" included not giving any intrinsic value for human life, Tanya supposed this drumhead court was right in their conclusions, but had no evidence to believe so. Tanya never wasted human resources and going out of the way to cause problems on the civilians, the real ones, didn't give her any pleasure. In other words, none of her actions on the battlefield supported that claim, if that is indeed what they meant.

"Here is a change of clothing. You are to close the door and finish in five minutes" said a guard. Tanya complied, taking off her dress uniform. The top was a shirt with black and white prison stripes, while the bottom was a long shirt brown shirt. Her dress shoes were replaced by something that looked like they belonged to a farmer.

Tanya was once again escorted out of the room, with an entourage carrying the mana inhibitor. Several blocks away, she was put into a large empty room. Guards started putting in dead bodies into the room. Most of these seemed to be victims of the plagues which were dying out. Probably less than one in a thousand people in the world were infected with one of those, but in a city of this size there were plenty of victims.

"You are not allowed to cause me physical pain or endanger my life. These bodies are filthy" said Tanya.

"You probably were exposed to the diseases anyways. We aren't telling you to eat the corpses" said a guard. This was a female, larger than Viktoriya with black hair. Another one knocked Tanya into a pile. He was tall with dark hair and a strong build, superficially reminiscent of the person Tanya used to be.

"This is humiliation Enjoy the body fluids and the smell of cadavers" said a third one. This was an average unremarkable man with light brown hair. This ordeal continued for an hour before another captor walked in.

"Why do you get face masks?'" said Tanya.

"Because we can fit aromatic herbs in here" said the female guard.

"I have a bucket of human waste" said the newcomer, carrying a bucket full of yellow liquid and several hard spherical brown chunks. By the darkness of it, the producers of it must have been fairly dehydrated. He dumped the bucket on Tanya's legs and then left the room. Tanya gave a grunt.

"You'll regret that" said Tanya, taking note of his nametag.

"I don't need to stay here" said the man with the bucket, who left the room.

Three hours later, an old woman came in carrying a similar bucket with more waste. "You're not original are you?" said Tanya.

"Wow… she is smaller than I imagine" said the woman pausing for a minute before her anger returned "This is for my son Devil of the Rhine!" said the woman, throwing it to Tanya's groin before leaving.

"Was she on humiliation duty?" said Tanya.

"As far as I know, she doesn't even work for us, but we had to let her in. I'd assume that she knew one of the higher-ups and asked to do that. By the way, Michael's idea seems to be well liked" said the brown haired man, the third guard. "Hey you two, how can you kiss and caress each other like that? I can't stand the smell if I take off this mask"

"We're going to wash ourselves off before dinner anyways so I don't care about the smell getting on me" said the female guard.

"But Mary, what about the smell now?" he said.

The female guard put on his face mask. "I got an idea. Let's put her to her knees and then pile up 9 bodies in a triangle around her, forming a little wall. Then toss in number 10 so it blocks most of her light above her. I think this one that had his leg rotting off a month before he died is best for that" said the female guard.

After several attempts to do so, it wasn't quite working. Tanya wasn't short enough. "Eh, I guess she doesn't need to be below the level of our wall. Too lazy to grab one of the dozen or so other bodies, nine is enough. Ok, just put the last one so that it's partially on the wall and partially on her shoulder. That's good, now move the arm around her neck so it looks like she's choking her" said the tall dark haired guard.

"I'm pretty sure this body is a dude" said the brown haired guard.

"I want a piece of this!" said a man in a general's uniform coming in.

"More urine and poop? The last one was half an hour ago" said the dark haired guard.

"It was easier to find than sweat" said the general. He threw it between some corpses and the liquid pooled by Tanya's knees. That was the last bucket for the day. For hours Tanya was forced to sit on, crawl through, grab, and place her head over corpses. Tanya kept in mind in a month she would be free and heads would start rolling.

…

A week later Tanya Degurechaff was taken through the next ordeal. To her surprise, her shackles were removed. "Are you sure you want to do this to a mage?" said Tanya.

"Don't worry. You can't use magic for another 168 hours unless you're one of the legends. Only a few ever confirmed to be able to shake off the effects early and those can be counted on a hand. You'd be the first person to do so in over 30 years and be the only mage alive who can. And even if you somehow hid an operation orb with you, with this much firepower you aren't going to be able to block it" said a guard.

Tanya didn't dispute that. She didn't feel any manna flowing. While she had a limited power with no operation orb, she couldn't control "chaotic wild magic." Even if her raw power did exactly as she wanted, without an operation orb she's be helpless against a lone armed soldier. Furthermore, this was more than she would take on in a fight. Seven 30.5 cm cannons, 1 15.5 cm canon, and 32 12.0 cm cannons were aimed at her. Seven machine guns and over 3,000 infantrymen with bolt action rifles were also there and an additional 500 were in the building outside of this giant room. There were details that were off though

"Those mounts the 305 mm cannons must be expensive. It makes little sense to limit the ability of Hungary to pay its reparations by requisitioning sellable arms and then forcing them to waste money on a land mount. Another problem is that no one is standing within 100 meters of me. How are you sure I'm not the first mage who can put up a shield without an operation orb? Also, 3/4 of those troops are former Imperials. I see hundreds of those from Ansebach. Three hundred are from Austria. That guy is clearly from Prussia. And a plurality of them are Hungarians" said Tanya.

"Good question" said a man in a beret who was bringing up a camera. "The Americans paid for this. I hear the president wanted to be present himself, but regrettably he'll have to stick with the reels"

"You've done many impossible feats, but all with an operation orb. If you can indeed put up a shield, our best bet would be a magical bayonet or raw firepower. I doubt you can withstand this raw firepower, but seven in the crowd are trained mages. Being closer would be optimal if you tried to escape, but the probability is small" said a scholarly looking man. Tanya felt faint manna presence once her shackles were removed, this wasn't a bluff. She didn't know what they were doing. A continuous spell was being cast by at least one of them, but it wouldn't be a magical shield as even the best mages would completely deplete their shield in an hour trying to stop rifle bullets, much less resist a mage. There is a reason mages selectively turn it on and off.

"We deliberately chose people whose families were mostly intact after the war. Think of the implications this means on their compliance" said another guard.

"Remove your shirt and skirt" said the man in the camera.

"That would leave me bare on the top" replied Tanya.

"Good. That's one less step to do. Move over to that set" said the apparent director.

Tanya complied, taking everything off but her panties. Well, this wasn't too bad. The problems with being naked in the public, was the public thinking of you as some sort of deviant rather than one to respect. This is obviously mostly nullified in these circumstances. Only a minority of people would consciously lose respect for someone forced to strip at gunpoint. Besides, she wasn't actually naked. The biggest source of her discomfort was the sneeze that got on her after she took off her prison shirt. This was wet.

"Ok, we have a pole. Now make it look like you're humping it from the camera's point of view. We'll play three songs with a 30 second break involving a neutral hum. In the last 90 seconds of each song, the white backdrop, the light source, and the camera will slowly rotate using the pole as a center. I showed you the recommended dances, but you can experiment. Just make it look cool and you must stay in contact with the pole" said the director.

As the music turned on and the camera started rolling, Tanya started the dance. She briefly considered the irony in her past life she was a consumer of this kind of product. Was Tanya previously morally wrong? No, she wasn't. Video is a non-rival good. Furthermore, Tanya, or pre-Tanya, had always made sure she only watched when the child actresses got compensation for their work. That meant no pirating and only buying from dealers whom she felt were as good in morals as someone who were selling an illegal good was, which was in short supply. The problem with black markets is that most producers will cut corners since if caught everyone's doomed anyways, so finding a non exploiter was difficult.

In other words, what her captors were doing wasn't morally wrong due to what they were doing, but the fact that Tanya was forced into this against her will and with no pay on top of that. Despite Tanya suffering little physical discomfort, Tanya reminding herself about her former life, and Tanya reminding herself everyone present knew she didn't do this on her volition…

Tanya still felt humiliated. Tanya never thought she would feel worse than the propaganda video she helped make after earning the Silver Wings Assault Medal short of a threat to her life. Well, Tanya certainly felt this was worse, even though her skin tolerated no clothing much better than some of the corsets that were ill-fitted she was forced to wear. And this humiliation didn't even serve a useful purpose like dressing up and acting all cute for the propaganda video.

"That's it make the most out of your hip swings. You're a natural Tanya, we don't need to do any retakes" said the director. Tanya didn't know whether to feel disgusted at satisfying her captors in the first run or content that she was one step closer to getting this over with.

A team took out a bed. The set was now decorated with fake grass, bushes, some flowers, three pine trees and the backdrop looked like a hill form far away. It looked like a bed in the middle of nature. Even the bed itself looked like it was growing from the ground. The frame was decorated to look like growing wood.

"Drink this" said a man, holding out shot glass. Tanya complied. This was scotch. The man brought out three glasses of wine. "More" he said. Tanya continued the drinks. She felt a little sick in the stomach. As the minutes passed and the sounds started merging into each other, Tanya cursed Being X again. Her small body could get drunk, but she couldn't enjoy the wine if she felt sick, even if it was good wine.

"Lie down on the bed with your legs spread out. When we start rolling, I want you to describe every single detail of your first mission which was… hang on… let's see here… Norden" said the director. "Make sure to occasionally move your arms in circular motions and wiggle your body a little bit"

"Seven days prior, the Entente declared their ultimatum for us to evacuate the demilitarized zone or else. We were a bit on high alert, sending 10 divisions North, but mostly remained unmobilized. No one thought they would be that stupid. I was completing my training. I couldn't handle the rifle well and I was given individual bullets instead of magazines to lighten the load if a live fire practice happened that evening" said Tanya. Tanya wasn't exactly slurring like a drunk, but the lisp she always hated was being more prominent.

"I was just following orders. Then they tried to kill me. Those ah, illegal immigrants tried to kill me. So woosh vroom, I dodged when I realized I couldn't hold a shield long enough" continued Tanya. Unnoticed to her, some spectators from the general public were allowed to come in and were listening. A microphone and speaker system was set up so some of the elderly occupation officers could get some enjoyment, while some of the spectators heard this too.

"And she told me to fight off a while company alone for ten minutes. Why? Don't I look cute? And even more so then, wasn't I cute? Doesn't this body look like 'protect me?' It's one thing to fight but this was a doom mission. It was a death mission. It was a hard mission. This was basically suicide and she wrote me off as a sacrifice. It was a suicide mission. I only had a 1/3000 chances of survival and god isn't on my side" said Tanya.

Some of the former Imperials considered that statement somewhat strange. It obviously was a product of the wine, her small underdeveloped body couldn't take it. Tanya Degurechaff became an accomplished ace from Norden and the Rhine Theatre, but at that time Lieutenant Tanya Degurechaff was merely a novice mage showing good potential and having faster top speed, turning time, and reaction time that other novices finishing training, although similar acceleration times. The odds were against her and a lot of people didn't think she was exaggerating how dim things looked for her. If god intervened against Tanya Degurechaff, the outcome would be the same as the most likely outcome without intervention for either side, her dying as a noble sacrifice,

"And that's how I won. Somehow. Anyways, the doctor was mad. God forced me to pray to him to survive the trial with that mad scientist engineer" said Tanya. Tanya had enough of her mind to not admit she called God "Being X" and omit her desire for a safe rear echelon job. However, she lost enough to avoid omitting Being X entirely even though she did exclude the most revealing parts about him, especially his direct conversations.

"The thing is, God hates me. He wanted me to suffer for this entire war" said Tanya. The spectators silently agreed this was the alcohol talking. Tanya was seen as a religious person, one to look up to. The fact that she was a child made her even more so inspiring. Besides, the Lord would never put someone into misery just to be worshipped. True, there were times in the Bible where he intervened and cause misery for humans, but they were never for the sake of being worshipped and things turned out better for most his true believes in the long run if one ignores heaven, in other words only counting events of the material world. Including heaven, it always turned out better for all of them since the faithful will be rewarded.

Tanya dozed off. She had been talking for 15 minutes. 46 minutes later, she woke up with a start. "Did you do anything funny?" she asked in a deliberately pitiful tone. Tanya felt fine. Still, with these people, she wanted to make sure. She regretted not biting the distress capsule she prepared and getting a breakout.

"Cut! We were just recording your sleeping motions. We didn't do any touching yet if that's what you wanted to know. 15 minutes of you talking while showing off your petit legs and 46 minutes of you in bed was enough. You fell asleep with your hands on your sides and your back on the bed. You did move a little bit and it was kind of cute" said the director.

Tanya looked around. One of the spectators… Visha? Tanya wondered what she was dong there. She did make her instructions explicitly so that seven of her former battalion would be able to respond instantly if she bit her capsule. Tanya then noticed there appeared public access for those very far away. Viktoriya Serebryakov from very far away nodded. It seemed that the director was telling truth. The guards, who could not be expected to tell her the truth, had the same look in their eyes.

A large guard then started stripping. A dinner table was being set up. "OK Tanya you are going to use your mouth to…" said the director.

"No!" said Tanya, starting to manipulate her tongue and bringing the capsule to her teeth.

"It's not what you…" said the director.

"No!" said Tanya.

"We just want you to lick his…" sad the man.

"No!" said Tanya, preparing for a hard bite.

"Armpit" finished the director.

"Huh?" said Tanya.

"I know what you don't want. I have a daughter your age, although she certainly is bigger… in general size and certain body parts. Even though I know you are responsible for causing the Republic so much grief and were one of the contributors of the Arene massacre, I have limits on what I'm willing to subject you to. I can't stand the thought of her forcing someone to… do certain things. In fact, I personally think what I watered the original script down to is still a bit more than I'm comfortable with" said the director.

"What are you forcing me to do?" said Tanya.

"You guys are going to eat some roast reef. You will first talk about the palace of Vienna, the taste of cows, and then where you both grew up in. He's going to try to supply innuendo, while you take the literal meaning, sounding confused and several point try to correct him. Then you will hold hands, walking away for 5 meters before he smothers your head in his armpit and you lick it on screen" said the director.

Tanya grimaced at the thought. This was still doable. Tanya obediently went on the set and the camera rolled. At one point, some beef juice got out of her mouth and she got some on the left of her chest. She grabbed a napkin and the director shook his head. Tanya was annoyed at the juice on her skin. After finishing the first good meal she had in some time, Tanya and the man stood up. He really should be more conscious than her. After all, he probably volunteered for the job which meant that everyone looking now knows he wanted to deviate from social norms. On top of that, Tanya at least had something on her.

Tanya knew the man was sweaty from whatever he had been doing before the shooting. It was a strange odor, but Tanya anticipated it to be more unpleasant than it ended up being. Tanya briefly wondered why. Perhaps the wine was still dulling her senses. Suddenly, the man lowered his side and put his armpit in her face, while manipulating their position so the camera could see well.

"I don't know why you want me to eat you big brother, that would be lethal. However if you insist, I'll do something close and give a taste" said Tanya. She licked the pit, anticipating dulled response. Sadly, her taste buds seemed to be working at full strength and the sweat obviously tasted quite unpleasant. Since this guy obviously volunteered for this, Tanya knew one man who was not going to survive 30 days.

"Good job today everyone!" said the director. They started packing. A set crew took down the table. Tanya's shackles were placed back on. The soldiers started filing out. Guards started shooing away the spectators who couldn't really see much from their distance anyways. Tanya felt a cloth on her shoulder

"Here. I warmed it by a fire" said Lieutenant Cornelius Sørensen. He gave out a nightgown and undid her shackles. Tanya put on the long nightgown. It was a bit too bit, for someone probably 12.4% taller.

"I'm sorry I looked at you know and then, my curiosity of what they were doing to do got up. I swear it wasn't out of any desire to violate your privacy" said the Lieutenant.

"I'm not angry at you for that. Depending on the laws on the Entente, this might have been your only a chance to see something like this. I understand the desire" said Tanya.

"No, it wouldn't be proper if it was that desire and not curiosity! If I wanted to see it for the sake of it, it would not be fair for my wife. The odd thing is that despite you being 16, your chest… well from 10 meters away if looking… uhhh down instead of at your face, you could be a girl much younger or even long haired boy. Oh, sorry! I'm just rambling whatever pops into my head at the moment" said Sørensen.

"Thank you" said Tanya. She gave a pause "the nightgown is more comfortable than the air coming down on my skin"

"Your most… troubling ordeal starts tomorrow" said her guard.

…

1931 Budapest

Tanya was to be put on lowered ratios for seven days. A human needs 2,000 kilocalories a day to support general metabolic activities and 400 simply to support the brain alone. Or as the idiotic Americans would put it, 2000 Calories (with a capital C) a day. Tanya was cut down to 30 kilocalories of protein, 90 kilocalories of glucose, and 10 kilocalories of citrate a day. In other words, for a week she was going to be fed less than what the brain alone needed.

As a new day began, Tanya was hungry due to being deprived of dinner. This ordeal would last a whole week. "My sentence was humiliation and life imprisonment. You said I'd be in permanent confinement before April" said Tanya.

"This is very likely true. There is only one more ordeal, or perhaps I should say seven depending on how you think about it" said a female guard.

"I'm judging you right now as well as many of your companions. I want to know do you feel pity for me? I seriously doubt that" said Tanya.

"I personally wish they would kill you right now. The brass got an international court to approve of additional punishment before your sentence, but it is conditional on the head of state during your time in the war approving it. Otherwise, only your sentence stands if you don't try to escape. Your de facto head of state is Charles X. My country doesn't recognize your unification with Austria-Hungary, but by male preference primogeniture, even if we excluded those from marriages the Republic never recognized, Charles X's parents were 6th cousins and on his mother side would be the legitimate monarch of Prussia anyways. Records show you were born in Berun, making him your monarch during the war if not as Kaiser of the Empire, then King in Prussia. Anyways, hold still" said the guard. She grabbed Tanya's skirt and started pulling.

"I can undress myself again if this is what it is about" said Tanya protesting.

"I'm not going to give you that option. Whatever little I can to rub it into you for what you did to my little brother" said the guard, continuing the removal.

"A mage?" said Tanya.

"Yes, he was part of the Operation to save Arene from you bastards" said the guard.

"The shelling was in direct response to your government arming 'civilians' and using them as illegal combatants. But I suppose if the jury didn't buy that argument, you're not going to either, having lost some of your family" said Tanya.

After the removal of her skirt and shirt, Tanya was shackled once again to the mana inhibitor. More guards appeared to lift the heavy box. "How many of these things do you have? This has been the same one" said Tanya.

"I think 37 in the entire Republic. It's why nearly every country including yours executes mage criminals, even petty thieves. They will be given a sentence less than death but if the inhibitor is needed elsewhere, an assessment is made on escape risk. If the new guy needs the device while it's being used for someone with a standing sentence but the new guy might escape, we kill him. An operation orb is just too easy to smuggle in and these inhibitors are kind of hard to make. They are resilient to even shelling once made, but during the crafting process one little mistake and you have to start the whole thing all over. Sadly, the Treaty of Copenhagen forces us to assume all Imperial prisoners taken, or found in the case of yourself, are not an escape risk unless proven otherwise" said a different guard. He looked like an officer.

Tanya was led out into the street with nothing but her panties on. She was placed on a chair with the large block behind her. "Here is a torch. Today is sunny with no wind, so this might help with the cold" said one guard. It was a chilly 15 degrees C outside.

Tanya closed her eyes and focused. Who felt pity? Who were most definitely going to be alive in three years? This would all be over within a few days. And the more they humiliated her, the sweeter killing them all would be. Tanya was normally restrained by the rules of society. However, after her inevitable escape, she would be a fugitive one way or another. Tanya dozed off.

Later that evening Tanya found herself back inside her room, shackled and clothed. "I wonder how a child can be put through all that and still remain faithful to the Lord" said one guard.

"Trust in the lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. The Lord will reward her piety" said another someone in a priest garment.

"How? Do you think she's going to escape? That girl will rot in prison for the rest of her life. This is effectively a death sentence. Like a death row prisoner, she'll never be free in her life. Or maybe her people are more important to her than her life? I don't think her people will be prosperous any time soon" said the guard.

"Perhaps in the physical world her body will suffer and she will not receive any material reward. But she will be rewarded" said the priest. "I thank you Tanya, you are an inspiration to my congregation" He then parted off

"Did I say anything?" said Tanya.

"At around 3 o'clock, you woke up and started praying" said Lieutenant Sørensen. Tanya remembered vaguely sort of being awake at around that time. She didn't get a good look at the people watching her as she was paraded on a float strapped to her chair, as well as being shackled. Tanya then focused on one of her early battles on the Rhine Theater early in the war. So she was acting out her flashback? However, this still left much of the time between 3 and 8 unaccounted for.

"Then you started a speech on the Divine Rights of Kings" said Lieutenant Sørensen. Tanya didn't remember doing that at all. "Half an hour later, you stopped and was mostly silent, occasionally reassuring the spectators. Around 5 o'clock you talked about how many people have sinned in the past decade, but you forgive some of them and the Lord forgives all his faithful and then some others" Tanya started getting worried. She didn't use the Elenium-95 in over 32 days. Did she suffer another blackout? "After some time you stopped talking to people, mostly praying to the Lord to deliver you from your confinement, repeating a few lines. Half an hour later, a young girl who was eligible but passed over for the American eugenics program asked what was going to happen to the people and if she was ever going to see you again. You responded that a main plan would be simply to follow Charles X's commands and hope he restores order and solves the famine, while praying for things like order and a better harvest. Meanwhile, the Lord might free you and you might return. A 'plan B' would be simply to have faith knowing that while things are getting admittedly pretty awful on Earth, the Lord would see that you all would meet in heaven. You declined last rights with Father Michael since you assured him of your survival. Are starvation rations already affecting you? You made three impassioned speeches"

Tanya thought that the effects of the Elenium-95 was not cumulative. After all, closer to the end of the war, she no longer had periods of time where she wasn't in control of her body, except when using the operation orb to full power. Even then, while praying to "Being X," she almost always was fully aware of what she was doing and was praying to keep the jewel voluntarily, at least as much as she had to keep herself from blowing up. Most people would voluntarily hit a button every five minutes if strapped to a bomb that would explode if the button wasn't touched. Only around an eighth of the time was she suffering some points where she didn't remember. Tanya thought the corruptive effect was over. Worse, maybe it wasn't corruptive to Tanya in a direct mind control sense, but a psychological sense, like Pavlov's altered its behavior and not through magic.

"Can I have some food" said Tanya.

"I'm sorry, I cannot provide you that. Here is some tree bark and water" said her guard.

"That won't fill me" said Tanya.

"It's aspirin. You might want to take some tomorrow. We're going to Prague" said the Lieutenant.

…

1931 Prague

Tanya Degurechaff prepared for another day. On the train ride, she had mixed some willow bark into water and let it sit for 3 hours. She then removed the depleted bark and put fresh ones in. Overnight, she replaced the bark again. Before her guards came in for the parade, she drank the bitter mixture. Tanya swallowed another fresh piece of bark whole. This somewhat satisfied her stomach at the moment.

"What is in those bags?" said Tanya.

"Some stuff people threw at you yesterday. We'll check to see if any of them can be used for escape and if not, I guess you can have it to keep you company in prison. Now strip" said a guard.

Tanya complied. She took note of her guard's ID number. It seemed that a lot of Republican soldiers were on guard duty for her, out of proportion to the Allied (as in the faction not the country) forces set to occupation duty. This man might live three years, it didn't seem like he was in a particularly high priority. It was fairly likely whoever was assigned to her volunteered for this, so few if any took pity on her.

Tanya was shackled again and brought onto another float. This time was no chair. Tanya was knocked to her knees and her hands were bound by rope in front of her sickness the shackles offered too much freedom of movement. A weight was placed on the top of her legs, slightly squeezing them onto her lower legs in a squat. Two pillars closed around her hips and pushed inward, making it a mildly painful squeeze.

Tanya closed her eyes and waited as the float moved around Prague. She felt the turns and counted three of them, each separated by a long travel. This was going to be another long day. Tanya grimaced, a little bit annoyed some of the locals might join in with her captors in lusting after her cute naked body. The fact that this stunt was obviously forced mostly got rid of the blow to her pride. Mostly… but it was still mildly annoying. There had been an odd silence throughout Prague. Tanya heard occasional noises, but most of the city conversations were gone. Tanya heard… a little bit of crying?

Tanya Degurechaff opened her eyes. She was expecting a mixture of curious onlookers, those who admired her battlefield exploits and her ultimate sacrifice to comply with the Treaty of Copenhagen, people who saw her as another helpless girl to be broken by the victors, guards, and lolicons, in frequency of that order. Instead she saw a huge crowd flanked by Czechoslovakian soldiers (a good 75% who haven't yet switched from Imperial Uniforms… the trains were probably better put to use trying to stop the next seasons' probable famine), Prague local Police, police forces borrowed from three other municipalities, and occupation forces.

Most of the crowd was solemn, almost as if it was a public funeral. A lot of them looked like their eyes were wet and had shed maybe a tear or two. A few others were sobbing. Most of them who did look into her face had either pity, respect, or gratitude, sometimes sequentially from the same person.

"And so this is the end of Tanya 'White Silver' Degurechaff after all she did for us" said one spectator.

"I can't believe she agreed to do this so stop the war before it got worse" said another one.

"I can't believe the victors were so cruel. A life sentence is effectively a death sentence if she obediently waits. I once was a Protestant, but if the Lord allows this to happen to a child so pure, maybe he doesn't exist" said a teenager.

"Or maybe he's on vacation and left man to his own devices. Or perhaps someone is filling out on his break and that guy has it out for me" said Tanya with a weak smile. She thought it was ironic because under most circumstances, her presence usually made people more religious, even when Elenium-95 wasn't forcing her to be a neon advertisement for Being X.

"What strong spirit, being able to make jokes in a situation like this" said an older spectator, impressed with Tanya's black humor in such a dim situation.

"White Silver! My sister lives on a farm. You saved her, my brother-in-law, my nice, and their house last year!" said one man. He threw a letter onto the float. Tanya remembered the Italians- er Ilodians who speak the Italian language, made a huge offensive into Hungary. The effort temporarily split the Empire into 2, but a counterattack isolated 1/8 of their survivors north cut off from supplies and drove the rest back. The isolated column fought north into Bohemia and ground to a halt for 3 months before the Russians were able to link with them. In the meantime, the 203rd was trying to hold the Bohemian front, where the Russy Union and the isolated troops from Iloda created an Allied salient.

"My father died on the Rhine front during the American counterattack. You let me spend some extra years with him. He was in an artillery brigade in Norden at the start of the war. The other mages left to consolidate the counterattack, leaving his unit with only inadequate anti-air formations. Your stand against a whole company saved him" said a girl about Tanya's age.

"You saved my brother on the Rhine Theatre when you were still a Lieutenant" said another spectator. He threw a letter and a flower on the float.

"Where did you get money to spend on the flower?" said Tanya.

"There is money everywhere, but everything is getting expensive. The trains don't always move the food around properly and we have shortages. If I waited a week for that to happen, what could buy a week's of supplies wouldn't buy a banana. I might as well buy something that looks nice" said the man.

"Don't worry about any of us having food. If there is food, we'll buy it. If there isn't food, we need to spend the money anyways" said a woman who appeared to be his wife.

"Thank you White Silver!" said another spectator. Three of her guards were busy putting them in with large bags.

"You look famished. Have half my chocolate" said a boy, giving a bitten candy bar. Infections aside, Tanya was eager to take it. The bar landed on the float, beyond Tanya's reach. A guard picked it up, walked off the float and crushed it with his boot.

"Just because I'm put on starvation doesn't mean you had to waste that" said Tanya.

"I don't like bitten food anyways" said the guard.

"Why? What did she do wrong?!" screamed a crying woman, who was being dragged away by guards.

"War crimes" said an occupation guard.

"I was too good of an officer. One charge was doing my best to hold my position, prolonging the war" said Tanya. This was rewarded with a slap across her face. That was one guard who wasn't going to be spared.

"Everyone…" said Tanya. Tanya Degurechaff was moved. She had thought that outside of her immediate circle, she had been forgotten by the Imperials. Aside from passage of time, people had many things to worry about. Plagues that were going around the world decimated populations. The fronts were slowly folding and imminent defeat usually occupied a layman's thoughts more than a war hero whose most famous exploit was at the beginning of the war. As the military consumed more of the dwindling rail capacity, some cities started to starve because people forgot how to use pack animals to move cargo. Her public image was what motivated Tanya to stay behind for the mock trial, of course only contingent on a high probability of escaping.

But even after all of this, the people still thought of her and remembered much of the hard work Tanya put in. While they didn't know about her papers which greatly helped the war effort, they still didn't forget her.

"Tanya! Tanya! Tanya!" shouted one spectator. Soon the crowd picked up the chant. As Tanya was paraded around Prague, the shouts slowly moved among the onlookers for three hours before they died down several kilometers from the starting location. The occupation forces were so nervous about a breakout that many of them escorted the float holding out their bayonets towards the crowd.

One red faced boy had been staring at Tanya for several minutes and followed the float path. An older girl and a younger boy gave him consecutive slaps. "Sorry White Silver, my little brother is… well he's a bit of an idiot when it comes to girls. Apologize Hans!" said the girl.

"Idiot" said the youngest boy.

"Sorry for looking at your… body in… that kind of way. It's not right to think of a hero who did all that for us like that" said Hans, still blushing.

"I do think of myself as an officer more than a girl. Still, I forgive you, apology accepted. I know males can feel that way. As long as you know that wasn't respectful and admit it, I'm OK. I also know seeing youth like this is something you will not be able to see again, and it's not like not looking at me will get these jerks to give me back my shirt. I'd like of you to remember me as one who spent all her effort trying to save the Fatherland, from the first day when I stood against a whole company while I was a novice and having trouble with my gun" said Tanya. While a bit annoyed, Tanya sympathized with the boy's uncontrolled desire. If this world was like Czechoslovakia or Germany she knew, child pornography was unlikely to be available. Sale would be quickly outlawed less than a month after any legal supply emerged. Tanya knew that youth had a certain appeal, even if Tanya herself no longer had any desire to consume this product and she certainly didn't feel like producing it.

The float continued to be paraded. As it passed a government building, a brunette woman emerged. He was the Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia, but most of the people didn't remember his name. It probably didn't help that elections were held less than a month after the war and a second election a week later and when no Politian had an answer to "how do we get the trains to run on time?" or "how do we stop prices from rising?" pretty much everyone didn't care at all. The occupation forces appointed 1/8 of the MPs of the second election once the only passed bill from the first was "kill the occupiers," which was overruled by the occupation governor-general.

"Tanya Degurechaff. You were willing to sacrifice yourself for the Fatherland. You followed a near suicidal order in Norden that even your superiors admitted they were sacrificing you. You had many exploits on the battlefield and worked to save us. When the war was going wrong, you allowed yourself to be sacrificed for a less vengeful peace treaty. Currently, we only have 30% of the prewar train capacity and we don't have enough to move food before it spoils when the harvest comes. We don't have control over our currency and prices are getting ridiculous. Many girls are being taken to America never to come back. Can you save Czechoslovakia? Tanya, can you sacrifice yourself once more and appease the devils?" said the prime minister. One of her ministers groaned.

The entire crowd looked at their head of government with a mixture of disgust and confusion. "What? If she gives something up and the problems go away, isn't that worth it? Every time the White Silver chose to sacrifice herself, the result was better than it would be otherwise and the first time she didn't even suffer a permanent setback" said the prime minister.

"Haven't I given enough? I offered my life in Norden and was lucky to keep it. I offered years of maximum effort since then" said Tanya, putting on her cute voice and giving a tear. The tear was only half fake. Any child or even teenage feeling the sentiment Tanya felt would likely cry, but normally Tanya prefer to suppress such weak feelings.

Tanya vaguely remembered the plurality party, the one of the PM's party, had gender equality in government as one of its goals since with the exception of the military there was open discrimination. Females weren't bared, but had to prove themselves above and beyond their pay grade once this new nation was created while in the Empire the military was at least mostly a meritocracy. The PM was one of 34 female MPs in the successor states of the Empire and the only PM, so she wasn't exactly helping her case. Maybe Being X didn't like competent female politicians in this world? The ethnic Slovak was clearly no Merkel.

"What do you want White Silver?" said another spectator.

"I want you all to remember me. It's great to be praised for one's efforts. And I hope you all know I did everything I could. The occupation forces may try to wipe me from official records, but I want to live on in the minds of Aus- no Imperials" said Tanya. The siblings and a few adults nodded and shed some tears. In the last three hours, the float stopped and there a somber mourning. Tanya dozed off.

…

1931 Prussian countryside on a Train

"Poke" said a guard, sticking his finger into Tanya's check. His nametag identified him as Alfred Goldenberg.

Tanya woke with a stir. She was on some train. The compartment resembled a luxury dining car. There were guards on lounges. Tanya could see them eating. Some were having bread like sour dough, k-bread, baguettes, Danish white bread, and rolls but she also saw luxuries such as roast beef, fried clams, and sausages. There was no rugbord bread oddly.

A female guard in the Republic uniform stood over her. A nametag identified her as Mary. She had shoulder length brown hair and was average sized for a female, although still larger than Tanya. The guard appeared to be in her 30s. She waved sauerkraut in front of Tanya.

"Hungry?" said Mary.

"Food…" said Tanya, drooling. She didn't really care about the taste at this point. It had been two days with only calorie-less bark and a nutrient broth of glucose, citrate, and protein that clearly was inadequate.

"No food for you" said Mary.

"Now, it's not nice to taunt the prisoner like that" said Alfred.

"Who cares about the Devil of the Rhine? Besides, I'm guessing we were told to hold the prisoner in the dining car for a reason" said Mary.

"Here is your daily sustenance broth. It is carbonated" said Alfred. Tanya drank it up quickly. Even calorie rich modern fountain drinks were unlikely to fill Tanya in her state. However, a nice bottle of Coca-Cola, 7-up, Sprite, Coca-Cola Citra, Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Vanilla Coke, or Snapple would be able to trick her body into stopping some of the hunger symptoms. The stomach would still be empty, but it would be a bit more comfortable. Tanya was almost certain to escape. The question was if anyone would make the same formulas to satisfy her taste buds once she escaped. It was possible Tanya would be denied certain luxuries from her past life permanently.

"First tied to a chair then to my knees. What do you want now" said Tanya.

"One of us is going to pin you to the floor" said Mary. She gave a gesture with her hands. Tanya remembered this looked similar to the end of a Judo match where one contestant was pinned to the floor by the winner.

…

Frankfurt 1931

Frankfurt was once an Imperial Free city within the Holy Roman Empire. The Hapsburgs misspelled it "Frankfort" for 32 years in all their official documentation including the papers that authorized Frankfurt's privileges. Once the discrepancy was discovered, the Archdukes corrected themselves, no wait… the city was renamed "Frankfort" so that all the papers in Vienna were correct. This situation continued for 350 years until the end of the World War, when the Republic renamed the city.

There was a mixture of sentiment on this name change. On one hand, a good 25% of the locals were pleased because the old name flowed better in both local dialects and canonical German. 8% felt this was an outrage and another humiliation to be inflicted by the occupiers since the misname was a badge of the Hapsburg Monarchy… although even those felt the original name was nicer on the tongue. And most people… well they really couldn't care about the name at the moment. A reichsmark was once the only currency worth more than the Allied/British pound in terms of single nominations. Well, technically that was still true, but with prices raising everyone was scrambling to buy something before the prices rose again. Rumors had it that if the half-life of the mark's value dropped to a third of its current rate, people would need to pencil in prices daily. Food was never available on the shelves. Part of this was because everyone bought anything that arrived. Another part of the problem was that the train capacity was less than a third of the prewar value, so even if a famine wasn't inevitable the food wouldn't get to the cities in time from the farms, the warehouses, or even the ports. People were also busy with all of the corpses. Seven huge piles of corpses mostly plague victims stood towering just outside the city. They were buried with light dirt when the occupation forces encouraged the mayor to decide the remaining ones could just be left to rot in the unused buildings… of which there were many. Simply closing a few ground level doors got rid of most of the smell, but all the police tape reminded people of what had been lost.

This was city where Lieutenant General Tanya Degurechaff had people throwing rotting arms, livers, intestines, spleens, lungs, and tomatoes at her when it was discovered who she was since her "Catholic" views were widely known. Once the Pope was quoted out of context appearing to support the harsh treatment based on the Treaty of Copenhagen and quoted (in context) encouraging people to forgive the sins of the Republic, there was a bit of anti-Catholic sentiment. Tanya heard that 3 times there were isolated hatred motivated riots before her travel there. This was also one of the three places she had to hold back from firing into the crowd in rage, where military officers defended her name and actions, and where she denied being Catholic and claimed, correctly, she only put on the motions to motivate her fellow soldiers. Tanya was not looking forward to this.

Speaking of the Pope, Pius XII was making a tour later in the afternoon. He overlapped with the last quarter of the time Tanya was spent on display. The occupation forces had asked his tour be cancelled. The Prussian authorities (successor state that controlled Frankfurt), Hessian officials (the state that probably should have gotten the city), Austria (the successor state whose head of state approved of the trip in the first place) all wanted the tour to continue. It had been scheduled three years before the end of the war and reaffirmed by the mayor after the breakup of the Empire. The Vatican itself refused to be forced to reschedule for what they called a "Charade and mockery of justice" and the Bishop of Frankfurt told the occupiers they could have altered the day they were going to do their demonstration. He was going to be there for seven days.

"Strip" said a guard. He left the room, a bit of a moot point since Tanya would likely be visible to everyone soon enough. Tanya removed her prison shirt and the modest skirt. An operation orb slipped through the door.

"Nice try. I'm not going to try to escape" said Tanya. Her allies were not to break her until she was in permeant confinement or until she bit the distress capsule. Besides, even if this was a breakout, using an operation orb after being detached from a mana inhibitor for a few minutes was not going to work.

"Tch" said a female voice.

"Mary, it's not nice to bait the prisoner" said a different male guard.

"I got approval from Valois himself" said the female guard.

A trio of female guards entered Tanya's cell and shackled her to the manna inhibitor. They tried to lift it and only got 10 meters before needing two other to joint hem. They only got another 30 meters before a sixth and seventh picked up the block.

Tanya and the block were placed on a large float. A large gate opened and the float started moving towards the outside world. Tanya was not expecting the warm welcome she got from Budapest or Prague.

The streets of Frankfurt were much more deserted than the ones of Prague. This was the opposite of what it should have been because there were more survivors here. If Tanya had to guess, the onlookers were only three times as dense as it should have been on a normal day with no special event. Did the people here get over their prejudices?

Tanya was wrestled to the float with her face down. She didn't s much for the next half hour. To her surprise, there did seem to be a solemn atmosphere similar to Prague. After this, she was brought standing up and died awkwardly to a large log. The log nearly fell over and a few guards straightened it. Tanya looked into the spectators and called out to a close one.

"Peter Schneider. You called me a Catholic sow and threw a rotten tomato at me. Are you here to mock me?" said Tanya.

'No, and I'm ashamed of myself. There might have been a Catholic conspiracy to make the terms of the Treaty of Copenhagen unfavorable to us, but you clearly did everything you could to prevent it" said Herr Schneider. The float proceeded on, while some of the onlookers did throw some letters.

"I can do without the hate mail" said Tanya.

"Mine is an apology"

"Mine is a thanks"

"Mine is a talk about how you are an example of the new master race we need to create"

"I thought those brown shirted nationalists were only in Bavaria?" said Tanya.

"There is only one political party talking about eugenics aside from the status quote or using the American system and yes it's in Bavaria. But some of us have similar sentiments. We can't beat the whole world in quantity in the World War. We won't be able to do that for peaceful economic dominance either. But we can focus on quality. I'll give you a book about how Darwinism affects human society" said a woman, throwing a book onto the float.

"Thanks?" said Tanya. At least she can see how the Empire's masses went from favoring the previous meritocratic system and want to replace it with something else, although the successor states hasn't changed much yet.

"It's very valuable. The printing presses in the successor states except Austria, Hungary, and Croatia for anything other than newspapers have been banned for a decade" said the wannabe Social Darwinist.

The float moved another block. "Theresa Moltke, I remember you. You said that I had supported the revolutions, when in fact I only followed whoever controlled the Imperial Bureaucracy. You claimed that I was a traitor because a true patriot would have followed Charles X von Hapsburg's army south to regroup. Your brother had an easy time doing that since he was stationed in Austria. Your father was a trade unionist and supported the September revolution. I forgive him for his mistake since he felt guilty about it. But you can't forgive me for following orders? Have you ever faced down a whole company being told that there was no retreat available and reinforcements were at least 10 minutes away?" The woman held her head down in shame. "There were several groups. One group was the perpetrators of the problem. One group was already in the south and already loyal. A third group was in rebel controlled territories and trekked their way to support the royalist cause. Others were in the north and royalists at heart, but were too afraid or distracted by all the deaths to do anything. I was in the last group while your father was in the first. I can forgive your father for following for their siren call. Why can't I be forgiven for passively hoping the problem would go away?" said Tanya.

Some of the occupation forces set up concession stands with overpriced food. Since there was a food shortage for the civilian population and prices were rising anyways, they quickly became popular. Tanya's stomach grumbled. Unlike Prague and Budapest, there were some lecherous looks at her body among the locals. In Prague it was one person, here there were a few handful every block. While she was sure multiple guys liked the scene, back in those two cities, the wake feeling quashed any enjoyable feelings back there. Here it wasn't exactly unanimous, although most carried the mood from Prague. The looks some people gave her were completely irrelevant compared to Tanya's physical discomfort with the restraints and more importantly the hunger.

"Alfred Rohm, you had disparaged me. I recall you were a conscripted soldier on the Norden Front who didn't have good work ethic and sometimes simply refused to move without a rest to regain stamina. Before you fired a bullet, I fought on the Rhine front, desperately trying to save allies. I was part of the Western Army for the two months while it acted as the Republic's punching bag. And yet after the war, in Frankfort, you were forgotten and you encouraged the others to blame me for the revolutions that stabbed the military in the back. I was part of that military!" said Tanya.

"I admit I wanted to blame anyone other than myself" said the man Tanya was talking to.

Tanya felt weakened and didn't feel like talking for some time. Perhaps it was the physical discomfort with her containment, or perhaps it was her hunger. As the day passed, a smaller pile of letters gathered. Some people expressed apology for their earlier behavior the last time Tanya was in the city, when the misname of Frankfort was still official.

"The Republic broke up the Empire, but the secret is that they are fundamentally afraid. We occupied their homeland once. United we were strong. But it wasn't enough to divide us into separate nations. We have to stick together to rebuild. Stop looking for scapegoats. It's better to let go a dozen or even three thousand actual revolutionaries who had already failed in their uprising than to accuse a single loyal Imperial citizen. I gave myself up so that you could rebuild" said Tanya weakly.

Once the parade was finished, Tanya's float was taken to a train station. A priest came and offered Tanya prayers, which she begrudgingly accepted. Let these fools pray to Being X. Tanya would never do so with conviction. "His Holiness claimed to have had the Lord speak to him directly, but then decided that it was his imagination" said the priest.

"What is the context?' said Tanya.

"As you know, His Holiness used to take chlorpromazine to treat a medical condition" said the priest. Tanya knew that this was used to treat allergies (small doses) or psychoses, porphyria, anxiety and schizophrenia (regular doses). Given some of his family history and a few incidents he had to take leave as a bishop, it was probably schizophrenia. Also, if this was like the 1900s of her original world, allergies and schizophrenia were probably the only known uses. Tanya was impressed he was able to function well and be able to continue his career.

"Didn't he accuse the manufacturers of misusing the profits?" siad Tanya.

"Yes, it was made by seven companies. All of which had problems. Four had used their profits to encourage protestant purges in South America. One funded a war between the Allied Kingdom and a group of meddlesome tribes that affected another one of their divisions. Yet another put tobacco extract in some of their other medicines to encourage addiction. I don't remember the seventh one… oh yeah I think they also provided drugs to help America with sterilization. So after taking his medicine for 32 years, he told us to find some with proof of origin not coming from them and… well it's pretty hard to track something to its origins" said the priest.

"So His Holiness started getting schizophrenia symptoms such as psychosis and visual hallucinations?" asked Tanya.

"How did you learn why he took chlorpromazine? Anyways, we have an in-house professional who knows the basics of cognitive behavior therapy, so we didn't think it would make that much of a difference. He tapered off chlorpromazine over a month and was off it for 38 months and he felt fine with no symptoms" said the priest. Tanya knew in this world psychology had gotten a bit more advanced than the "every cylinder is a penis" stage, so perhaps it worked.

"That was until, yesterday. His Holiness thought the Lord told him that you were 100% innocent of the crimes you were accused of. The prosecution failed to show its case and even the Lord knew that it was not because they were incompetent but that you were factually innocent. However, the Lord then told His Holiness that he desired for you to undergo your humiliation punishment anyways. The Lord claimed he was enjoying himself and you might get some true faith. After some time, His Holiness decided that it was merely a hallucination from" said the priest. He paused. He didn't think it was right to mention that Pius XII might have had a bit more to drink than would be advisable. Alcohol however does not cause hallucinations. "He was temporarily sick, and decided he had a hallucination from a combination of being a little bit physically ill and his pre-existing condition. Your religiousness is well known to be genuine by miltiary officiers, even if you did deny it for the sake of preservation in this city" he finished.

Tanya could Imagine Being X having fun at her expense. This was most certainly in character. What is odd is that he would directly contact anyone. Furthermore, the Pope himself believed he had hallucinated "the Lord" because he himself couldn't believe in the content. A smile came from Tanya as the thought of His Holiness himself rejecting Being X. "If I write a letter to his Holiness, will he read it?" said Tanya.

"I can't say for certain, but given… recent events I would imagine it would be read within a week" said the priest.

Tanya was then taken off the float and her restraints were readjusted. "Is the next stop the last city?" said Tanya.

"It's the last city of your sentence of humiliation. It's a shame no one is allowed to make any recordings of you" said a guard.

"If you want to rewatch my body, I think your associates have already made several video reels. I believe they are giving them out for free aren't they?" said Tanya.

"Well, this is true, but the footage is shorter than hours' worth. I mean today is longer than all the videos" said the guard.

"Don't you feel sick about what you're doing?" said Tanya.

"Lusting at you is not much different than enjoying a strip club that has some who managed to retain youth when they reached age" said the guard.

"Except strippers ultimately have a choice and get paid. If you are lusting at me and I want to have my clothes on, I'm performing a service for a consumer without getting anything out of it" said Tanya.

"Well, when you look at this as uncompensated work, I guess this qualifies as child slavery doesn't? Ok, I guess child slavery isn't moral. Well, short of certain red lines that they can't cross like causing physical pain, this is within the Republic's authority for humiliation" said the guard, laughing with a bit of Schadenfreude.

"This is about my killing of Dakia's vanguard isn't it?" said Tanya.

"I wasn't part of that personally, so I don't have a personal grudge against you. Not that I have pity either. Well, here is the train" said the guard.

Tanya finished a short letter and handed it over to one of her captors. He opened it up in front of her. There was no more privacy in her communications once she had been convicted, although Tanya suspected they would have read it either way. The guard gave Tanya a funny look and then put it inside an envelope, giving an approval signal.

…

Berun 1931

Tanya was woken to another part of this charade. According of the guards this was the last city. Once again Tanya stripped, leaving nothing on but her panties. Unlike the previous three days, now hunger was really getting to her. Tanya wasn't really thinking much.

"I'm not sure if today will cause physical pain" said a large guard.

"We just have to measure physical forces" said another guard. Tanya was strapped to a large pole. The guards measured forces required to pin her to a vertical pole. This was a function of Tanya's weight and the friction that was determined experimentally. "OK, record this down as weight X in kilograms"

Tanya was pinned to the pole with her arm, her legs dangling in the air. This is possible. The arm can hold the weight of a person, otherwise monkey bars crossing would be impossible. After a few adjustments, they put Tanya strapped to a vertical cross. Each of her arms was strapped on the horizontal portion of the cross. "Put 0.3 X pressure on each" said a guard.

The stool under Tanya's feet was removed. There wasn't enough force on her arms to keep her suspended and her body immediately started pushing down. The arm restraint started digging in an upward motion into her arms. The stool was restored.

"Put force 3X on her left shoulder and 1X on each hip" said a man. One with a clipboard talked to another guard. Restrains were put on and some carefully measured with force detectors as metal was tightened. "1.3X on the stomach and 0.3 on her forehead" The final restraints were put in, with forces carefully calculated.

"Remove the stool" The stool was removed. Tanya stayed pinned to the cross. It was mildly uncomfortable, but since enough force was keeping her pinned, her body wasn't falling. A springed platform was placed below Tanya. Her restraints were released and the platform descended 10 cm. Tanya was raised again and the restrains pinning her were placed again. The spring and platform were raised 3 cm. If allowed to fall freely, Tanya would go down 10, but she stopped at 3 cm because of her restraints. "Good. Retrieve the general's uniform and get her on the float"

To Tanya's surprise, some guards have brought her dress uniform. Tanya was released from the cross restraints. Three male guards dressed her without sneaking in a chance to touch certain parts, contrary to her expectations. Tanya was put on the restraints again. The slightly increase in weight made the restraints feel a bit different, or perhaps it was imagination.

Tanya and her cross where hauled to float. The float moved out. Tanya's hunger got the most of her. She drifted in and out consciousness. Her greeting was warmer than Frankfurt. People gave her a hero's welcome… or perhaps this was a hero's' wake. For obvious reasons, the crowd in Berun was not happy.

"Tanya Degurechaff, you have been convicted of many war crimes. You shall be humiliated before the place of your birth and the former capital of the Empire" said a guard. Immediately, her shoulder epaulettes were torn off. Her cap was seized and ripped into three pieces and they were thrown to the ground. Buttons were torn from the front. Three ropes which went from side to side were broken. The last insignia were torn off. Seven medals were torn off the uniform. The ceremonial sword Tanya received when promoted to Lieutenant General was dosed in liquid nitrogen. One guard took the sword and hit the flat on her leg shattering it. The last medal, her prized Silver wings Assault Medal, was ripped from her uniform. Finally, a trio of guards started ripping each bit of cloth from her uniform's top and bottom, leaving nothing covering Tanya except her panties.

The crowd reacted loudly rowdy the moment the degradation started. Once it was clear that the guards were not content with the pieces of the uniform, but were going to leave Tanya bare, the crowd started getting restless and three men were shot to death by the guards.

"It's not worth it. Stay orderly!" screamed Tanya, before running out of breath. If these masses, ignorant of her situation, created a riot, her life would be in danger and Tanya would have difficulty getting out alive.

Flowers and letters were thrown onto the float. Tanya listened to some of the people's problems in their daily lives and gave words of encouragement.

"Tanya, I'm so sorry this happened to you child" said a nun. Tanya recognized it as one of the nuns who raised her.

"They just want revenge after all of what I did as a mage" said Tanya.

"All of us are praying for your fair treatment. Even if it doesn't happen, the Lord will not let your soul be treated badly. He is with us" said the nun.

"With us…" said Tanya weakly.

"We are his faithful. He will not abandon you. The misery around Berun today is a temporary setback" said a civilian spectator.

"Flowers for a hero's wake" said another one. Tanya drifted out of consciousness for the third time. When she came to, a guard was poking her cheek.

"Your daily nutrient broth" said the guard.

…

Frankfurt 1931

His Holiness Pius XII read a letter about the girl his hallucination talked about. This was intriguing. Tanya Degurechaff asked him if the Lord had come to him by freezing time and then controlling nearby people, statues, pigeons, and portraits.

This was intriguing because the Lord had contacted Pius XII eight, no wait seven times, directly though almost the same method. Pius was pretty sure that the Lord didn't exactly override the free will of people, but merely created an illusion over them to make it appear that they were speaking. It is true that when the chosen "speaker" spoke, the voice was the same as the "host." So rather than the little girl being completely correct, it was perhaps an incorrect interpretation.

Pius XII knew that usually the Lord preferred to make his views known through more subtle means than directly talking to his faithful. Or to put it another way, the Lord was talking to them, but since he was everywhere, it wasn't usually talking in English/ German/ Latin/ Hebrew/ Danish/ Yiddish.

Pius XII had been contacted by the Lord four times before he was Bishop of Rome and three times after. Each the Lord gave Pius XII some insight on a particular situation. In addition to wisdom and judgment, each meeting he gave Pius XII and gave him a mixture of facts, some interesting and irrelevant and some facts that would help a local mission or something. Like the fact that one was about to be hit by an earthquake in seven days. Each time it was always correct. One time, he did something particularly amusing. He realized that the Lord had left time stopped for… an unspecified amount of time. The clocks didn't work. So the future Pius XII picked up some of his companions and took them directly to a train. He tried to get the train running, which didn't work in stopped time. He then took all three of them to their destination several kilometers away over several subjective days (?), dropping some money off at markets and day vendors as he took food. As it turned out, a bridge collapsed. If the train went beyond its allowed speed, it would fall. The best case scenario was the train stopping and being stranded 3 kilometers from the next station. When time started again, he phoned in about stopping the collapse, preventing passengers from being stranded in nowhere. He knew 32 priests, the Bishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Berun, the Bishop of Copenhagen, and four deceased bishops had been contacted the same way. This is certainly odd that the girl was directly contacted by the Lord. She was pious, but was in a different line of work, one that ultimately got her framed.

Pius XII had few too many drinks before his stay at Frankfurt. A shot of liquor and several glasses of fine wine. Nothing is wrong with alcohol as long as one doesn't drink too much that one sins. Or get addicted, which will usually cause future sinning. He probably had 3 more drinks that was good for his health, but he didn't sin or do anything stupid, other than bumping into walls in failed attempts to move in a straight line before he had the igneous idea of using a hand to brace himself against said a wall. Hours later, he felt much better.

He thought everything was fine, up until time was stopped. At first he thought the Lord was contacting him directly. As if that was happening, seven people spoke sequentially, and a portrait of a local protestant priest. The content however did not make any sense. First it was said that Tanya Degurechaff, being paraded in Frankfurt the next day, was innocent. This was not a surprise. Just as females usually don't commit burglary, the faithful usually do not commit crimes. Sometimes they do, and sometimes they sin, but they do it less often. More importantly than that, they know how to repent and their souls are saved. But then the talking heads claimed that he wanted her to be paraded around. When Pius asked if this was because he was going to sacrifice her to save people, one of the frozen people responded that if that happened, that was merely a happy side effect. Time then appeared to proceed as normal.

Pius noticed he hasn't moved from the spot, while when time truly stops three times he ended up a considerable distance because he kept moving. He also knew what was said simply didn't make any sense. There were several explanations for this. One was that he was being contacted by an angel not the Lord. He knew about several Old Testament angels that were… not very nice. They served their purpose, but a minority their actions could be interpreted as cruel to the layman. Their forms were also indescribable. He also considered this was a case of alcohol induced idiocy. If he had fainted and then had this experience, this could explain it, however he never lost consciousness since his drinks. The third explanation made complete sense. A medical condition he used to have caused hallucinations and he was no longer taking chlorpromazine to suppress the condition. He thought he was cured since in the last 38 months he didn't have any symptoms, but apparently he was not cured, because that was clearly a hallucination.

Pius XII started writing a reply. He wanted to satisfy her curiosity and encourage her. Tanya Degurechaff had worked so hard for her country and it was clear that she did so not out of love for violence, but a pure love. Since the hallucination was about her, it was not out of the question to give her the details about it. It was true that one hallucination every three years wasn't too bad, and it certainly was better than it used to be. Even without chlorpromazine, age mostly fixed the problems. However, "mostly" was probably not enough. He decided in 8 months, he would give notice that he would retire three years after the announcement.

…

Berun 1931

A letter arrived at Tanya's cell. The postage was unmarked and it looked like it was put there by mistake. "It appears this was delivered personally by that messenger on horseback" said the guard who handed it over.

It appeared it came from the Catholic Church. From the envelope, Tanya could only tell it came from a bishop. She opened it up and skimmed to the end. His Holiness Pius XII? Tanya didn't know much about the Pope. She did know that the younger pictures of him looked nothing like the Pius XII of her original world, getting the natural hair color wrong for example. This was consistent with the fact that none of the monarch names were familiar by the 19th century, except for Napoleon suddenly appearing and history going off track once he retired. The name must just be a coincidence.

A grin started spreading across Tanya's face as she read the letter. Apparently for Being X, his apostle the Bishop of Rome, head of the Catholic Church, didn't believe Being X was God when Being X appeared before him! OK, he believed Being X was God the first seven times and still does, but there was still the obvious fact he didn't this time and it brought no small satisfaction to her.

A man entered her cell. "General Pierre du Logo and newly elected member of parliament. Remember under the terms of my capture since you are a politician, once I let you know I don't want your presence any physical harm I do to you I will not be answerable to. My hands must also be relatively free in the presence of a politician. My hands are shacked, but the chains are very long so I have free movement within the cell. You also can't bring any guards or weapons inside my cell or within 100 meters of you" said Tanya.

"You ruined everything" said MP du Logo.

"I never wanted this war" said Tanya.

"The Empire had several innovations up its pipeline. A new 305 mm turret to be used in a stationary strucutre. A mass producible man portable automatic weapon or what we would now call a submachinegun. New engines for land based units. Anti-mage shells. According to our intelligence, if there was peace, within 36-40 months, each of these innovations one by one would become mass producible. We were also expected to lose our advantage in technology for operation orbs, small artillery pieces, sniper rifles, and fighter aircraft. Your navy was expected to triple in size in those three years, while still much inferior to Legedonia Entente, would become a threat. If the Entente had Denmark including Schleswig back, your country wouldn't be a threat to the Republic, Entente, and Dakia combined even with a buildup. Our attempts to get the Czech, Croatians, and Romanian speakers, who belong in Dakia, failed due to loyalty to your stupid Kaiser" said du Logo. Tanya was surprised. She remembered in the few years before the war, there were headlines about "nationalist moron turned in by loyal neighbors" a dozen or so times. In War College, she learned one of the men in the first attempt, which resulted in a riot of 30 people, was arrested by the local police who found over 10,000 marks were given by a foreign backer. Imperial Intelligence came up inconclusive on the source of money and found no evidence of a foreign plot. The central government response was to congratulate the local police and informants and offer additional manpower if the local police ever felt threatened.

Also, Charles X von Hapsburg becoming a father when he was 12 probably supports the idea of him doing stupid stuff as a youth.

"The Danish speakers whose ancestors were part of the Entente had no loyalty to Charles X, but none of them were willing to deal with our conspirators. One was half considering it, but he claimed that if we had their interests in mind, we would be cooperating with Entente intelligence. Fortunately, their home country was in turmoil. Elections were worrying the politicians and most of them stood to lose power. We had a common goal. The disputed zone of Denmark was mostly demilitarized, but under Empire administrative and civilian control. With 35 mages and a Republic division, the Entente was emboldened. If they marched into Denmark and the Empire didn't respond, we could make an argument for a future boarder adjustment. If the Empire responded, we expected the boosted forces to overrun the Empire's position in Norden before the central forces responded. A system of forts, terrain, and static defense would create a defender's advantage that would need 32 to 1 to defeat. As a backup, the Republic could invade on the Rhine. Unfortunately, those idiots managed to mess things up. They went in on their stroll without a war footing. Communications became overloaded. The mages were not ready to support the infantry. Our imported mages were even farther away. It was a whole mess. One of the Entente mages was actually a Republic-Entente liaison. Only his communicator with our other officials worked and he didn't want to reveal it to his squad mates. We told him to salvage something out of this and get the mages to attack something, anything tactically viable. To add insult to injury, they engaged a lone Imperial mage observer, lost a few men, and we lost him too" he continued.

"So the Republic invaded the Empire. We had more than three years since resources allocated to brining your innovations to mass production would be spent making war material. Ideally, we would get territorial concessions and reparations to recoup the costs. At the minimum, we should be able to inflict enough losses that a peace of Status Quote Antebellum would be accepted. And then you showed up, Devil of the Rhine. Named Mages are rarely discussed beyond majors in making decisions. Above a certain level, a Named is nothing more than an individual strength of an entire platoon. Except for you. At least three times a battle with hundreds of thousands of participants were lost directly to your contribution, and there is an indirect effect of you killing our mages that made other battles more difficult. You ruined everything!"

"My country's capital was occupied. I had to flee in disgrace and we left the country we were supposed to serve behind. By the end of the war, we lost 99% of the Republic's population, and your country has many more survivors. We destroyed the Empire, a threat to my nation, but at the cost of practically the nation itself and it's your entire fault! Now you need to pay for that" screamed man who was doing double duty as politician and general.

Tanya knew they were alone at the moment. She didn't need to play cute with the man and it wouldn't do any good anyways. There was a primitive camera, but the footage would not be released public and it would only be used if she escaped or if there was an incident that could be a treaty violation. "How did you know about the start of the war?" said Tanya.

"I am a personal friend of the previous prime minister. We made deals with the Entente. Their government is personal friends with 32 MPs and several of our cabinet members, so we could get deals done. So they provided their friends more aid that would be strictly necessary than the alliance agreements. Wouldn't you provide your friend aid?" said du Lugo.

"I probably would, but for different reasons than you might think" said Tanya. Friendship and emotional attachments meant little by themselves. It wasn't that Tanya was devoid of people in her past and current life she spent time and enjoyed time with, a certain definition of friendship. Rather, maintaining a reputation of helping friends in need was necessary.

"Now whose fault do you think all of your country's woes are? First all, almost all the deaths were from disease after the armistice. The Empire's military agreed with the Imperial Council, the upper house of our parliament, and Charles X for an armistice. They thought the war was over. Your country conceded the capital and further war would be pointless, in fact detrimental. Colonel Rurugen said a country's military is either used to assert the will of the nation or its head of state in our case. To sacrifice the nation itself for the sake of war would be madness. Which is exactly what you did. Tell me, what would have been a better result? The Republic giving up some colonies, reparations, and war materials, while having 90% survivors and most of its cities intact, or taking one of our colonies, the disputed region, shattering my country, at the cost of living in rubble for the few survivors left?" asked Tanya.

"Arene had to be avenged! And you are going to pay the price" said du Lugo.

"What did you tell your agent in Norden? Were the records lost?" said Tanya.

"He was told to have some enemy casualties to show for the sorry operation. Colonel Sioux suggested taking out the artillery observer or forcing him to retreat and we told him we wanted the observer dead, even at the cost of his own life, although try not to sacrifice allies since they would be needed later" said du Lugo. He unwittingly admitted that the war had started because the Republic encouraged the Entente to take a terse stroll through Denmark with no visas to encourage patriotic fever, where the Republic soldiers, (if their Entente allies had coordinated enough so that the Republic soldiers came along with the trip), were ordered to kill everyone they came across including a 9-year-old little girl that was ordered to stand her ground, alone, against an entire company with more combat experience than her.

"Get out of my cell. I am not answerable for any injuries I inflict on you" said Tanya

"You ruined everything! My friend was going to win a whole new set of elections. I was going to get victories, instead of a mixture of defeats and victories. And these victories are tainted by the fact that all of them were won with superior number. Is losing Denmark that bad for the Empire? Charles X's great grandfather admitted he didn't care about Denmark and wasn't going to defend Imperials who lived there in the event of a war. He only wanted it because it would offer tactical advantages in a war. You were responsible for Arene. Now you are going to pay! Fortunately you are an attractive virgin girl" said du Lugo, reaching over and grabbing Tanya by the hip.

Tanya immediately performed a hip throw on the general. He collapsed to the group. Tanya punched him in the hip and legs a few times. The strength training she put in over the years helped. While still inferior to her subordinates in raw physical strength, she felt confident in beating a middle school aged boy her size… or an old general who was out of touch.

"I know you're an atheist, but do you think your Catholic parents or little brother would approve? Or your wife?" said Tanya.

"Are you talking about the Seventh Commandment? I don't remember what it was, but I think although shortened to 'no adultery' it said not to take another man's female" said du Lugo. He maneuvered his legs to try to gain leverage.

"I believe adultery was the Sixth. The part about 'another man's wife' can also be translated as 'female' depending on your translation of the rather ambiguous original text and it came from Deuteronomy, although since taking another's female would be adultery anyways, you really just mixed up two passages, where one is basically a specific version of a scenario covered by a more famous one" said Tanya. She started crushing the man's legs. It was fairly easy to hurt someone when he was prone.

"For the sake of humor, let's assume I give a damn. To what man do you belong to? Charles X von Hapsburg? He was never your de jure head of state and he's not even your monarch de jure or de facto anymore" taunted du Lugo.

"Myself!" screamed Tanya, using the long chains tied to her arm shackles to give a whip into the man's hip. It was so hard the bone had a fracture which traversed 3/4 of the width, or in layman's terms, a bone crack.

"Get out of my cell. You should be thankful I stopped you from doing anything. The Treaty of Copenhagen specified that you cannot cause me physical pain, except when I am performing an escape attempt or threatening the physical well-being of anyone other than an unwanted politician. This can only be overridden with a bilateral agreement. Also, I am only allowed to be sentenced to what the Republic gives out to its own criminals, which also forbids causing convicts physical pain. Out" said Tanya. Her voice was mostly flat, but there was a bit of an edge in her tone that matched the threatening content.

"Bilateral agreement, it doesn't actually need YOUR approval" said du Lugo as he crawled away.

As the tension vanished, Tanya felt herself weakening. The starvation response was attempting to conserve energy. As a result of this, her stamina was fairly low and any physical exertion would quickly acquire the feeling of fatigue. The human body had enough energy reserves to last for weeks if not months. However, of the 2000 kilocalories needed by the body, 400 were needed for the brain. If this is not met by diet, one would receive a subconscious induced low stamina state. Only epinephrine could full mobilize the body's energy reserves when it was in starvation mode. Tanya was a bit concerned about du Lugo's last line. Surly violating the Treaty would be self-destructive, but this war had shown many times people would set aside reason and self-interest for short term satisfaction. It was good thing the Tanya had the distress capsule. If she was too weak to defend herself, she was certainly strong enough to bite in.

"Strip" called a voice.

"Berun was the last city" said Tanya.

"You are being paraded in something kind of like a Roman triumph in Berun today. We didn't lie" said the guard. Tanya obediently took off her prison clothing. Just a few weeks and she would be free.

When Tanya was taken to the float, she found several surprise. There were others there. General Hans Zettour of Prussia was present in a general's uniform, although it was the plain combat one rather than his decorative dress uniform. There were 3 Marquees, 24 counts, 8 countesses, and a baron. Some members of the old council were there too, mostly unlanded nobility. Actually, only three were still nobility as the new republics nuked the old titles. Almost all of them were wearing baggy commoner clothing. Charles X von Hapsburg was there, in shorts and a polo shirt. Most of those present blushed on seeing Tanya and turned a bit to the right.

"For the record, this is entirely forced on my part, it's part of my punishment" said Tanya.

"I'm sorry Lieutenant General Tanya Degurechaff. None of this would have happened if I didn't make you the battalion commander of V600 organization unit. All those made up charges came directly from your command" said Zettour.

"I think my logistics papers would have still nailed me. Besides, this was never about justice but revenge. How are you doing Charles?" said Tanya.

"It's 'your majesty' Tanya. I'm not your king, but I'm a king. I'm fairly depressed. The printing of money slowed down and sped up in the exactly amount I described, and the rate of printing is much slower than it was the week before we talked about it. The Allied Kingdom quickly made a Status Quote Antebellum peace with the Empire shortly after their intervention leaving the others to fight the war, so I think Cornelia is safe. One of my brothers allegedly had his valuables stolen in Oldenburg. But I get to eat what I want again, so I'm doing better than you" said Charles X von Hapsburg.

"For foreign monarchs, the addressing style is not used in private settings when one feels pity instead of reverence and respect. I don't hold a grudge against you for signing the Treaty of Copenhagen. I knew the military situation was grim before the revolutions and hopeless afterward. But there is something wrong when one given the Divine Right of Kings simply sacrifices a little girl for the sake of self-preservation. I feel sorry you had to do that, a bit more as sorry as I feel for myself. 'Charles' seems appropriate, at least until we are taken to public." said Tanya.

"You are a soldier. The purpose of the military is to further goals of the monarch. Any sacrifices made by its personnel in the name of preservation of the monarchy is acceptable" said Charles X von Hapsburg. It was clear from his face, the tear in his eye, and tone to both Tanya and the others that he didn't seem to believe it himself. Charles's heart was torn by the girl's statement. "She felt pity a bit more sorry" as she felt for herself… despite no longer holding him to a pedestal after he used her as a bargaining chip, Tanya was fanatically loyal to the end.

Tanya didn't know what to think about her former monarch. On one hand, Charles X has done some pretty stupid things, such as agreeing with his cabinet and military with the armistice (to be fair, Tanya couldn't contact him with her insight and he only had conventional wisdom and history to guide him), ignored his military over the civilian parliament when their forces were getting overextended, and gotten his fiancé pregnant before they married. On the other hand, there was no bout his micromanagement in talent picking for the Vienna municipal government and in the national bureaucracy went well. The man was born into a life of luxury. While Charles X could have enjoyed it to the full extent, he worked hard too, at least as much as an office drone. Perhaps not as much as a Japanese salaryman in terms of hours, since Japan had a culture of extra heart work, but he worked never the less even though his hereditary position obviated the need for actual work. While not a complete workaholic, he wasn't a slacker. Charles X von Hapsburg had started from a position of extreme luxury and lost much of what he loved. Tanya couldn't help but feel pity even for a moment. Sure pity was a useless emotion, and Tanya avoided basing decisions on emotions. And her own setback was going to be temporary.

"Why are all of you here?" said Tanya.

"This is another provision of the treaty, although it wasn't as opened ended as what you were condemned to which was 'anything the Republic has on its books'" said a countess. The group was placed on the floats in seats.

Occupation forces held a huge parade. The final item was their centerpiece, with many former high ups form the Empire and their prize, Tanya Degurechaff. In front there were forces from all the countries showing off and giving out free food, like an actual triumph. The hungry population didn't protest and grabbed everything that they could. Tanya guessed that they were doing this just to mock her. Like a Roman Triumph, there was free food. Unlike a Roman Triumph, this was being done in the city of the defeated.

"Any particular reason you are humiliating me in Berun instead of Parisee?" said Tanya.

"We thought it would be more humiliating to expose you in the place where you once stood a hero" said a guard.

"Also, with only 3,000 men left, it would be pretty difficult to do a humiliation there" snarked one of the ex-nobles in front of Tanya.

"Actually, this is true" said the guard.

Tanya saw the nun from yesterday bring along a blond girl with azure eyes and porcelain white skin. Her face was rounded and the girl resembled Tanya when she was younger. "Tanya, meet Tanya" said the nun.

"Hi Tanya…" said Tanya weakly.

"Hi Tanya! I remember pretending to be you like a hero a few times, while some of the boys had the roles of Imperials and Americans. I hear stories about you. You're so cool! Why do they have to hurt you?" said the little blond girl.

"She looks so much like you" said a noble.

"Little Tanya looks so much like you Tanya" said the nun, turning towards the float. "I think she was named after you" Tanya digested this as an afterthought. She was 16 now and 9 when the propaganda video came out. The girl with the nun was probably 5, but she did look much like Tanya when she was 6 so she might have been that old. For someone to make their daughter namesake of Tanya, the mother likely did so very early on in the war.

"Any words for you namesake?" said the nun.

"I'll tell you this, enjoy your childhood. Most children get some degree of free time. I never really enjoyed mine too much because I would have been bored, but there is a special reason for that. Once you graduate high school, work hard. The Lord usually rewards those who work hard. If what I'm saying is true, I'm obviously an exception" said Tanya. If Being X was somehow worthy of divinity, which he had been demonstrability not, then his treatment of her was obviously an exception to the rule. "As for why I'm being hurt, it's because the Republic just hates me. I'd say more, but I think giving more details would break your heart"

"We are praying for you Tanya. God is with us" said the nun, closing her eyes. The little girl she was with closed her eyes too.

Tanya watched the occupation forces give bread, sausages, fruits, popcorn, and some processed treats to the crowd. She wondered where all the food came from. It obviously wasn't local and most of the trains had been requisitioned. On top of that, train capacity was 30% of the prewar value. Since most of the population was somewhat hungry due to trains having trouble meeting with demand, it was in some sense a good thing food was being delivered.

The day passed with Tanya mostly nude while soldiers from the occupation forces made speeches from loudspeakers about the evils of the Empire and the shelling of Arene. Many of the Berun residents were shocked and believed it was a total lie. A minority believed it and was learning about it for the first time. A larger minority did know about the shelling. And 3/4 of that minority saw Lieutenant Viktoriya Serebryakov's video on her operation orb, or knew someone who saw it (1st order hearsay), or knew someone who knew someone one, or knew someone who knew someone who knew someone who saw it (3rd order). All of this last group not only knew that Republic provoked this by using "civilians" as illegal ununiformed combatants, but also knew they tortured and killed unarmed Imperials before the shelling.

The speakers talked about some of the grand coalition's victories in the final phases of war. Tanya was involved in some of the battles herself. She remembered having almost total freedom of the skies. The enemy would almost never do sorties against Imperial controlled territory. They only stuck to air defense above their own formations and occasionally hunted lone observes. Even with numerical superiority, they never perused a trio of Imperial mages. Enemy mages were given the order to flee on sight from Tanya in contested zones. Tanya would be alone, striking down from above while she gave orders through her coms. On the ground, even without supporting mages, the Imperials had the casualty ratio lopsided in their favor, but it didn't mean much against the weight of the whole world. Three times under Tanya's own watch the enemy broke through an Imperial defense line with raw numbers and sent their mages, motorized infantry, and cavalry to exploit the gap and smack soft units such as towed artillery. Trucks were an easy picking for Tanya's magic could make short work a meter of steel. The mages stood no chance against her and the cavalry was like a turkey shoot. This was inadequate. With the ground defenses broken, Tanya simply didn't have the rate of fire to stem the tide and each time the enemy cavalry wrapped around and attacked soft logistics and artillery units before the Imperials retrenched and retreated with a loss of territory. While the Imperials ended the war with 30% of their starting mages, they had actually managed to reverse the mage quantity advantage of the enemy despite most of the world against them. With control of the skies, and superior quality of infantry troops, artillery, mages, mechanization, logistics, tacticians, and even navy (once the Allied Kingdom quickly backed out of the war) the enemy should have never been able to mount a successful offensive on the fatherland, and yet the Empire lost the war anyways.

The occupation forces also talked about the evils of Germans. It was just about the Germans. Never mind the fact that the Empire was actually a multiethnic state unified by a monarch and not ethnicity or language. The enemy talked about how the German speaking Imperials were responsible for all the ills of the war. Tanya suspected if the Imperial capital was in Prague and Charles X could speak Czech, it would not be named Prague and the enemy would be talking about the evils of that group.

"Actually, I can sort of speak it and I can understand most everyday conversation in Czech. If one speaks slowly instead of normally, it would be 'nearly all' instead of 'most.' I think you are right if the capital was in Prague that would be done" said Charles X von Hapsburg. He turned around to face Tanya, blushed, and them immediately sat down in his seat facing away from her.

"Was I speaking out loud?" said Tanya.

"Yes" said Charles X.

"What do you think about the reverse of German hatred, German nationalism?" said Tanya, remembering her experience with those from Bavaria and the artist dangerously close to someone from her former world in ideology, although not appearance or desperation.

"Nationalism is always a threat. It can lead to extremist actions. On a more practical standpoint, the Swiss and the Austrians are not ethic Germans, but culturally similar to the people where the German language came from. When you talk about German Imperials, you can think of two groups. One is the ethnic group that spawned the modern German language. Another are German speaking Imperials. Nationalism nationally would focus on the first group. The Hapsburg family came from a line of Swiss counts. My ancestors married a lot of Austrian nobles aside from foreign monarchs over generations. The House of Wessex, which once held the English crown and had counties in England on and off over the years, were on the Prussian throne for generations. Unless one counts the Anglo-Saxons as Germans, this means the Prussian royal house was culturally Prussian but not ethnically. The house of Oldenburg has ties with the Danes. Let's look at four concepts. I'm going to talk about the Hapsburg Monarchy, unity within the Empire, the Divine right of Kings, and German nationalism. The four are incompatible, any one of them can't go with the other three. In fact, since ethnically I'm not pure anything, any form of nationalism would have been incompatible with the three more desirable things. If the Empire still existed, this would be a dangerous line of thought" said Charles X.

"Would you use nationalists?" said Tanya.

"The chances of reunification in my lifetime is close to zero thanks to occupation forces, but if I see a chance and calculate good odds, I don't care who I have to use. Disobedient people have limited use, but an obedient nationalist might not be" said Charles X.

"Your majesty that seems rather… cold" said one of the nobles.

"I can put all categories into several groups. There is my dynasty as you would put it, or my extended family as I put it. The next group is my personal friends, retainers, and those who have done favors for me. Then there are my loyal subjects, which honestly is probably only around 30% while the rest pay lip service. The next group of people is law abiding non loyalist subjects. There are people actively hurting the monarchy and then there is a group which includes all foreigners who aren't actively hurting it. I really only care about the first three groups. Those who aren't truly loyal or foreigners who aren't my personal friends don't matter to me anymore. I want all my subjects to have something to eat, but except for the dedicated it's only so that they can live to contribute to society. Everything else is simply a resource, not important, or we can do without" said Charles X von Hapsburg

"We let victory slip out of hands once and then let the Council overextend us later on. The enemies repeatedly violated international law. It's a little ironic considering the romanticism of the cavalry units and honor we used to talk about. They used to be a side concept alongside tactics, but then Lieutenant Degurechaff had some intriguing ideas that ignored the concepts that no longer fit in war. Major von Degurechaff not only showed us how to implement them correctly, but made us realize that the whole world would come down on us just for beating the Republic. Lieutenant General Tanya von Degurechaff made us realize the world was not going to let us have an option. If the Empire took any action against the Entente or Dakia, even if they started it, the other great powers would throw their weight on until either we were destroyed or we completely crush the enemy. She made us realize there was no room for a middle ground. Even though mistakes were made and the war was lost, the fate the Allies put on us would have been painful, much worse than our condition before the war we never started and barely worse than what we have now. If there was at least a 1/3000 chances of victory, we should have gone for it. It was probably 75% and we were once in the perfect position to sit behind defenses. You just had to dispatch 32 mages to stop the killings the Turks were doing to their Christians" said General Hans Zettour.

"Saving people who ultimately proved no use for the monarchy was a mistake. Just as you all became more aware of how the world worked, I was just relearning. It was only a seven day diversion. And the parliament made an order that day that involved many large units that overextended our forces. Anyways, I learned a harsh lesson from my military leaders as they slowly lost the modern Knight in Shining Armor from their minds. Tanya about your question, if someone is loyal and competent, they are a human resource that can be used for my family... well assuming they act loyal and don't dare openly defying me or lying to me. I may have once placed more even value of people's happiness and wellbeing. I now realize some have little intrinsic value to me but some talented human resources should not go to waste. They should be nurtured if stable and if unstable but useful, unleased quickly for a task. I suspect some nationalists fit this bill. While some are simply just angry mobs, others are human resources I can use for restoration" said Charles X von Hapsburg

Tanya smiled at that statement. "Perhaps I would be much like you if I were born in a life of plenty instead of from the bottom, your majesty" said Tanya. Charles X was pretty good a micromanaging some municipal governments and picking out talent. When he looked over battle reports, he could often identify the best tacticians. If Tanya was put into him without past life memories, she might have been similar and have attached an overrated intrinsic value of others before seeing an insane reaction to rationalism. It seems her former sovereign finally realized some people are disposable while others are to be used, although Tanya wasn't the one who taught him that. Her respect for Charles went slightly up, recovering a bit which had been lost when he made the utilitarian decision to forsake her.

Then she remembered some of his earlier actions. "A bit off topic… that was a pretty dumb thing to do with your fiancé when you were younger than me. Would you have liked to redone it?"

"Cornelia? No. I mean, that was pretty dumb and in most cases, getting a teenager pregnant results in bad events happening. But I love Cornelia and if I could do it over again I would not erase her. My parents thought that they would not need to tell me anything until I could get that blood flowing to my face when I saw a pretty girl, which I didn't the previous year. My parents in-laws thought their girl didn't need to know about it because any girl with a chest as flat as a board was either a genetic anomaly like you or (much more likely) not developed enough to either lust or be the attraction of lust. I think me going on pseudo-dates with some of the local girls and later your future queen should have set alarm bells off with our vacation chaperones. Both of us were a bit curious about each other's bodies and just let what felt good decide. Oh… I said something insensitive to you didn't I?" said Charles.

"If you mean certain part of my body, none taken. I suspect some girls might be sensitive about that in my situation. I'm more concerned about the fact that I only grew 3 centimeters in the past three years. I'm short even for a female" said Tanya.

"The military rations might have done that to you" said a noble.

The float stopped by the old palace, which was now the base of the occupation forces. People were encouraged to ask the floaters questions. Most of them wanted to talk to Tanya.

"For this hour, I think you are the personification of the Empire more than I am" said Charles X. Tanya couldn't disagree with that statement. She was not only a war hero, but her treatment was a symbol of the victor's injustice.

…

The next day Tanya was brought out again to face the crowds mostly nude. This time, the float remained in place. There was a change in personnel being shown off. Three of the nobles were removed and several ministers came in. All were dressed in casual clothing. For the nobles, this was a disgrace, although certainly less so than what Tanya was being put up to.

A Republic soldier read out a scripted story about the war. According to him, the Empire fired upon Entente troops who were making a stroll within their own sovereign boarders, albeit he conceded the region that was demilitarized.

"We did leave the Londonium treaty ambiguously enough so they could claim it was their own internally, but he forgot the same treaty prevents deployment of Entente troops there" said Major Enrich von Helmuth.

The story continued to the Empire's declaration of war on the Entente. The Republic came in to save its former ally.

"Although, to be honest, there was no longer a treaty of alliance between the two countries. Since there was not a declaration of war, this is basically a sneak attack. In fact, even if there were formal ties between the Republic and my homeland and not just a common enemy and personal friendships between my Council of Ten and several key members of their government, a declaration of war still needs to be made" said a familiar voice.

"Lieutenant Cornelius Sørensen. Nice to see you again. I thought I wasn't going to see you anymore after Budapest" said Tanya.

"So did I, but they kept reassigning me to you. I'm a bit of an oddball. All your duplicate guards who you see in more than one location were those who requested to be part of your detail, except me who requested especially not to be reassigned to you" said Lieutenant Cornelius Sørensen.

The Republican soldier read out his script. According to them, the Empire was clearly responsible for initiating not only the Entente front, but also the Western Front. The first shot fired and the first 3000 casualties inflected were both by the Empire. This was indeed on Imperial soil, but the union of its various states was not even legal, so it was de facto part of the Empire de jure free land to grab for any legal state with an army.

"Right, we had no right to protect our existence, because the existence of the Fatherland is illegal" said Tanya.

"You're damn right it is prisoner! Now where was I?" said the script reader.

"Napoleon Bonaparte himself recognized the senior branch as Archduke of Austria, Kings of Hungary, Kings of Croatia, Kings of Bohemia, Dukes of Parma, Counts of Oldenburg, Counts of Cleves, Counts of Anesbach, Princes of Brandenburg, Dukes of Fürstenberg, Counts of Messkirch, overlords of Netherlands, Dukes of Lorraine, Holy Roman Emperors and 32 other titles. Various junior members like my ancestors had their lands recognized by Napoleon. Napoleon is considered a hero by the Republic to this day, and yet you spoil his memory in multiple ways" said countess Mary von Hapsburg, although technically her county was seized by the occupation forces and sold off so she was an untitled noble. 3/4 of the nobles had at least some land confiscated this way.

"Recognizing your ancestors as anything other than Archdukes of Austria, Kings of Hungary, Kings of Bohemia, and Counts of the 7 Dutch counties was his mistake countess. And he never approved of your reorganization and reunification. He suggested it to the senior line and the reorganized in a way that he never approved of" said the script reader.

"Or disputed" said Charles X.

Half an hour later, the soldier was reading another script on the evils of the Hpasbrug domination. He even included the Austrian victory over the Turkman in three separate wars. At that time, all of Europe, even those at war with the Austrians, cheered them on. Now the Republic soldier claimed how evil it was because it prevented the spread of Islam, a religion with so many holes that any intelligent European would give up in three generations, while Catholicism was also a vile religion that put blindfolds over its people's eyes, it was more plausible and compatible with Western culture and could more easily elicit explicit state approval. The crowd started booing.

"Even for the mostly secular Republic, this wouldn't have made good propaganda anyways, much less Berun which is more religious" said one of the noblemen.

Tanya was basically an atheist, but didn't feel it contrary to be rational, libertarian, and scientific minded while also religious. Her problem with religion was that some of its practitioners would force it onto others. She didn't see peacefully going to church that different than what secular people would do for entertainment. They were ways to pass time and enjoy oneself. Another problem she had with Catholicism is Being X. Being X claimed to be that Lord, and she's quite certain whatever Being X is, Being X is not worthy of worship. Since Catholicism clearly states the Lord is worth of worship, this obviously comes into direct conflict with her own experiences.

"Tanya, do you have any family?" said Charles X.

"I told you, my parents are dead. My maternal aunt says my dad was one of three men from an orgy, but when she saw my 6 year old self, declared it was the dead soldier. She didn't care enough to take me from the orphanage, or realized that I was actually eating better than her. She's my family in a genetic sense, but not in a psychological or 'it matters' sense. Since then I found out my father had a few legitimate children. Most are dead form the war, but I have an older sister who I never met. My only biological brother… well you know his fate right?" said Tanya.

"It was the boy who in Damascus insulted the local religion and got nailed to the cross the next day. Unlike Jesus Christ, the cross was in a horizontal position, almost a bed, so he bled away for three days. There were cries to go to war at that time, but instead I played the diplomatic game on the international relations while having some of my Damascus thugs from black ops break a few bones from those responsible, destroy the factory managed by one of the fathers of the perpetrators, and loot their houses. They didn't do any permanent physical harm since I told them which bones they were allowed to break, so I was only mildly felt sorry about doing that since bones heal back. Now, I feel it was a waste to risk a cell of operative for something like this, while at the same time I don't feel any pity for the foreigners who obviously can't contribute to the Empire" said Charles X.

"I didn't know that. All I knew was that he died in there and caused an international incident. I never met him. I'm a bastard child remember" said Tanya.

The Republican soldier then talked about the evils of "The Devil of the Rhine." "Ah, we're back to that topic again" said Tanya.

"While all of us were unhappy to lose the war to say the least, you seemed particularly despondent. A few times I heard you had a miniature breakdown when we missed a chance" said Mary.

"I'm not surprised at my fate too much at all. Being hauled around like a trophy to be humiliated and then locked up. I'm objectified and vilified. These people hate me. It's human to ignore self-interest for the sake of revenge, and the enemy cannot overcome it. You know how they continued the war to the point it destroyed themselves. It's the fate of war heroes of the defeated country. The worst case scenario is I end up like Lieutenant Cornelius Krupp, the best case scenario is Napoleon" said Tanya, thinking of an Imperial German Jewish soldier of the old world who fought on the Western Front and a man who did many great things to France, but made the mistake of antagonizing the Hapsburgs, which was the only reason the Russian Campaign turned into a disaster instead of a recoverable headache. It all went downhill from there all the way to Waterloo.

"What fates did they suffer?"

"The first fought for a country that spoke German, but its king never sat on any throne that you know of. His country suffered hyperinflation and there was a blame game, similar to what we had going on now, albeit it hasn't gotten nearly as bad here as it was over there. A man who was never born failed to become an artist and he was sent to infiltrate a party which was never formed. Later on this led to a Holocaust which this world hasn't yet experienced and I hope you wouldn't let happen and the first war hero was worked to death in a camp that was never build. Napoleon fought a war that never happened against a grand coalition, and he died in boscuirty on an island in the Atlantic" said Tanya.

"Um, Tanya, I know orphanages don't really teach history all that much, but how could you get it so wrong? Napoleon had a 30 year reign after he took over from the Directory and became emperor. He retired peaceful on the island of Elba. France gave him ownership of 70% of the nonagricultural production (basically guilds since there wasn't any mechanization yet) in the Burgundy, Leduc, and Gascony. His son Napoleon had a short reign after he declared war on 'Austria, Croatia, and Oldenburg' 7 days after he heard of his assentation while he was kept in Vienna as a politely hostage. Napoleon I's nephew Napoleon III ruled until the Bonaparte dynasty was forced to flee to Legodia Entente" said Charles X.

"As for the first man, was it just a story of fiction?" he continued.

"It was real to me, but no matter how many lives I have, I don't think I'll ever meet him. And as I said, he's dead. To you, he might be fiction, but I know he was real" said Tanya.

"Holocaust… Holocaustum, it this like the big mob that formed in Richard 'the Lionheart of England?'" mumbled Charles X.

"I'm surprised you know that, most people would have thought that would originate from Germany" said Tanya.

"King of Germany… East Fracia was older than Richard of England wasn't it?" said Charles X.

"Don't worry about it. I know the people I talk about were real, even if there is no way for anyone to find proof of their existence" said Tanya.

…

Finally, they had set out on the fourth and final day in Berun for Tanya to be paraded around. She would only endure this for one more day before being transferred to a prison where she would wait for the getaway plan.

An unexpected visitor arrived. "Lieutenant Sørensen? What are you doing here?" said Tanya von Degurechaff.

"It's going to be painful. Here is an aspirin tablet" said Cornelius Sørensen. He took out a needle. "They aren't supposed to cause you physical pain, but it's not going to be followed. I don't know the specifics." He started injecting a local anesthetic into Tanya's mouth and each arm.

"I thought the Allied Kingdom would act as the guarantee of the treaty. Even if I was convicted in a sham trial, any punishments are limited to what they can give to their own people" said Tanya.

"I'd expect Charles X to extract appropriate compensation from the violators then" said the Entente Officer. He moved to an odd spray which felt cold to her touch. "Sorry" he said removing Tanya's shirt and leaving her chest bare as he sprayed more.

"Don't feel guilty about that" said Tanya/

The man took out a huge tank and slid a gas mask over Tanya. "Let's see weight into consideration… I probably should only use one third of this, as a full dose would just lead them to wait until you wake up"

"I thought cyclopropane was a discontinued anesthetic?" said Tanya, reading the label.

"What? It's no more harmful than alcohol. You just need to make sure only so much is used. It also has a slight tendency to explode when exposed to the air, so I don't want this to take too long" he finished the preparation.

He left the cell. Later on a few guards were complaining about the theft and return of some medical supplies. Another said that obviously they were imagining it. A female guard said that it couldn't be an imagination for them to disappear and then come back, slightly oriented differently.

"Prisoner, it's time for fun" said one guard. Once again, Tanya was tied to the cross, with multiple ties onto it so that the force was spread out and didn't dig too far into the skin.

Tanya mostly tuned out the rhetoric. For three hours it was the usual parade and demonizing of her. She had noticed many of the dignitaries from the Empire were no longer with her, although Zettour and Charles X were among the ones still present. George Valois the Prime Minister of the Republic was present.

"And now, Devil of the Rhine, prepare to suffer. This is for all of the grief you caused us. A simple imprisonment isn't enough, and you don't seem to take being nude in front of the crowds that much. However, I will deal the ultimate humiliation to the star ace of the Empire. You thought our mages couldn't touch you? Here I am on the ground, and ready to strike" he said. He took out a rod and struck Tanya on the leg.

"This is in violation of the Treaty of Copenhagen" said Tanya weakly. Normally adrenaline would override hunger, but the cyclopropane had a soothing effect on pain, and presumably the fight or flight response. "Corporal punishment is… is that a pre-sharpened rod?" said Tanya.

Valois appeared to be holding a copper stake 30 cm long but less than 1 cm in diameter in the thick portion and obvious very thin at the point. He looked like he was about to strike. "They say an eye for an eye, but I can't kill you just yet" in English. Tanya understood while most of the German speaking crowd could not.

"This is a treaty violation! I will not accept this. Do you hear me? You can't do this without my consent and I'm not giving it. You can imprison me like your crimminals, but you can't stake me. I am not dying like my brother did! Damn you Valois!" Tanya squirmed and struggled in her shackles and restraints trying her to the cross. Tanya calmed down a bit.

"Think about this. Your goal is to humiliate me and dishearten the spectators. Your goal is not to make them think about this. This is an extremely Catholic country, your actions will send a message that isn't going to favor your re-election prospects…" said Tanya, trying to appeal to self-interest.

George Valois struck his rod into Tanya's left leg. Despite lasting for hours, anesthetic wasn't enough and she screamed.

Charles X stepped up from his chair. "You can't do that!" he exclaimed. A guard pushed him and he fell to the ground prone. The crowd started getting unwieldy.

"Shut up old fart! And charging at me with your sword is OK?" said Valois.

Tanya prepared to bit the capsule. The others would free her and this charade would be over. Suddenly, something felt wrong in her tongue. She started to sweat. Tanya was numb in the mouth! Did Lieutenant Cornelius Sørensen set her up? Now she couldn't risk biting into it without losing the capsule entirely, in which case the signal could not be sent from inside her.

"For Steven!" said a woman dressed in formal attire close to Valois. She took an identical rod and shoved it into Tanya's hip, and she felt more pain and screamed with tears coming out of her eyes.

"Let Tanya go!" shouted a man. He jumped onto the float and struggled with three guards before they forced him prone. He was pushed off the float. He got back up and limped towards the float. He was shot when he touched the float.

Suddenly, for no good reason, the unwieldy crowd in Berun went wild. Men, women, and children started pouring towards the float. Three soldiers of the Republic set down their bipods on their light machine guns and opened fire, hitting the "civilians" who started attacking the soldiers, civilians who were running away, civilians who were shouting in anger, and Entente soldiers who… well happened to be the target of the punches and the shots were probably aimed at the mob and not the soldiers. One opened fire on his field artillery gun. The rest opened fired with their bolt action battle rifles.

A military man from the Republic put in a third stake into Tanya, going through her left lung, causing her to scream once more. In total, seven stakes went through Tanya's body, sparing her head and three limbs. There were deafening sounds of gunfire on the crowd, most of which was obviously too dumb to live as any sane person would be moving away from the soldiers and not towards the float with no ranged weaponry, and Tanya wished she had her combat gear as no ear protection was available for her.

The other Imperials that had been on display with Tanya had left. A fight broke out between the Berun crowd and the occupation soldiers. The Prussian Army was called in to help the occupiers, but the army was mostly dismantled. Only seven platoons were in Berun and one of them opened fire of the occupiers! The others simply watched.

A Republic officer ordered the execution of the Prussian Army platoons. For three hours, a battle raged on in Berun while Tanya bled out from the float, as the crowd failed to get anyone on the float.

There were some British soldiers from the Allied Kingdom who were available as a peacekeeping force and to mediate between the victors and the defeated. The fact that they were on the winning side but then signed a separate peace was the elephant in the room.

"Cease-fire!" shouted a British General.

"Cease-fire!" said an Entente General with the column.

"Cease-fire!" shouted Charles X von Hapsburg from the front of the column, pointing towards some of the mob which took Republic weapons from the fallen. He was accompanied by 30 Austrian guards and the 3,120 British Cavalry.

"You have no authority to do that, Prussia is a Republic" said a Republic major. He has been shot three times and had broken bones.

"Ok if I can't give them orders as a divinely ordained monarch and that order was rescinded, maybe I should let the Berun crowd deal with you. Perhaps they will give you the same treatment as you have to the Lieutenant General" said Charles X. The Berun man took the stolen rifle and bayoneted the soldier in the leg. "I didn't say the cease-fire order was actually rescinded!" shouted Charles.

The sounds of angry shouting and gunfire slowly died down around the city. George Valois was surrounded by 32 Republic soldiers with bolt action rifles, who stopped firing one by one. The machine gunners had been killed and the crowd kept burning their hands on the barrels because they were too ignorant on how machine guns actually work.

"Valois, I'll see you in court tonight" said Charles X.

"Zettour… Charles" said Tanya. As the blood loss got pretty bad, she faded into unconsciousness.

"Should we remove the metal spikes?" said one solider.

"I think we should move her with the stake she is tied to and spiked to. You know that idea of taking out the bullet? Well, the bullet is filthy and might cause an infection because it went through clothing and took all sorts of stuff into the body. If the bullet is blocking where the skin would regrow, it's another problem. On the other hand, trying to remove with bare hands also infects the wound. And often times the bullet, while it might cause infection later, is the only thing applying sufficient pressure to keep the wound from bleeding" said General von Zettour.

"Just get Tanya to medical attention" said Charles X.

…

The court had quickly determined the case of Charles X von Hapsburg of Austria vs The Francois Republic to be in mostly the favor of the dynast. Valois would be placed under house arrest for seven years and the Republic was forbidden to compensate for the fines he would be paying. The ramming of rods into Lieutenant General Tanya von Degurechaff fell out of the scope of "humiliation" since in the Republic, no physical harm could be performed except shooting during escape attempts (because a dead prisoner is better than a free one). All seven people who were responsible for this were punished, and it seemed more of a spur of the moment thing that one decided when the sentence was handed. General von Degurechaff would be given time to recuperate at a Hungarian military hospital, under guard of course, before being transferred to a prison outside Rouen to serve out her life sentence.

As Charles X expected, he did not get all of what he was looking for. He had hoped to punish the Republic for the killing of the Berun citizens but as expected, the mediators determined his former subjects had forfeited designation as "civilians" when try tried to club some of the Republic soldiers to death, even if it was in response to a direct provocation by George Valois stabbing Tanya, which the court did not sanction. Therefore, they could legally be killed without mercy, at least until the mob died down. Charles expected this. The countersuit against Charles X for the deaths of 3,140 Republic soldiers was dismissed since he was responsible for the Berun civilians any more than a foreign monarch would be. The countersuit against the Republic of Prussia for the deaths of them was decided in Prussia's favor since the Republic started the first treaty violation by stabbing Tanya on the cross. In short, neither party received formal punishment for killing each other, but the Republic did receive a slap on the wrist for physically harming Tanya and "staring it." Actually, given the reduced size of the post war economies, the fines the court ordered given to Charles and to a lesser extent Tanya might have been a bit more than a slap on the wrist, although it would have been little more than annoyances before the war.

"The citizens of Berun, by attempting to harm soldiers condemned themselves. Since they did so while clad as civilians, they condemned both themselves and 'civilians' who could be one of them" said the court.

"Couldn't the same be said about the 'civilians' of Arene who were armed?" said one of Charles's advocates.

"This is true, but it's a moot point in this case since this case is strictly about the incident in Berun, not general conduct of partisans in the war. As we all know, being a partisian against a nation state, even if one is own his home soil, is universally condemned and we allow a wide degree of latitude in retaliation" said the judge.

Tanya heard about the story. She switched the topic to Arene "I don't get it. They were given multiple chances to escape. Why should anyone feel bad? Frankly, they were given 2 opportunities to get non-combatants out. One they blew off, and the other they used to kill prisoners. Pride isn't an excuse to keep noncombatants in a city you're planning to fight in. Neither side is innocent. I wonder if the Republic committed the worse war crime by hiding in a city with civillians (instead of sending the civilians out of the city when the notice came) than the imperials by attacking enemy forces close to civilans" she joked.

"Well, you know since the Empire has no right to exist by foreign laws, they legally can't commit a war crime short of violating a cease fire or violating a treaty about specific provisions, such as the Treaty of Copenhagen, unlike general war provisions, like the Treaty of Worms or Londinium which they are free violate. So technically, the enemy couldn't have committed a war crime before the Treaty of Copenhagen" joked the Imperial… Hungarian doctor.

"Three years from now, I'll start a walk of the Hapsburg domains in the morning" said one officer, using a joke that had not too long ago started with "when the war ends" instead of "three years from now"

"What will you do that evening after dinner?" said Tanya weakly. Everyone laughed. There was probably a 1/3 chances Austria could retain its current boarders. The Russy Union might simply just ignore the treaty outright. An entire generation of girls had been kidnapped. The paper currency was becoming worth less, and maybe it might one day be worthless. They heard about the riots in the north and religious strife was bad.

"Well, the good news is that none of the injuries are physically permeant even without magic. You had a neve punctured, but the cell bodies survived and can easily replace the axons. Plus the neve itself, while punctured, was not severed" said the doctor.

Tanya was glad she had endured the stupid ordeal. Soon, the time for her own vengeance would come. In her previous life, she had completely written off revenge as irrational. Now, Tanya von Degurechaff viewed it as simply entertainment, as one would a good walk in the countryside, a good movie, or perhaps drinking with office-mates.

Of course, she viewed much of the revenge attempts as utterly pointless. While she accepted it as entertainment and a pride builder, one had no business perusing revenge to the detriment of other goals. Therefore, the Republic was irrational to continue the war after Operation Lock Pick. Sure, they ultimately won the war in the end, but the wealth of Republic civilians destroyed by the war greatly exceeded any reparations they would receive in money and the land taken form the Empire. In short, they had scarified the nation state for the war, something that would be absurd by the Chicago school of Economics, simple wealth calculations, or utilitarian terms. Even a modified utilitarian calculation that only took the average happiness of anyone but the Empire did not make this a postive.

Likewise, Anton Souix, if she remembered his name from the Entente listings correctly, made no sense in his quest for revenge. Even if the Entente records were correct that Tanya killed his men in cold blood in the first day of the war, something they might have even believed given that their communications and recording bureaucracy was on a peacetime footing at the start, revenge was not a profitable decision with his country overrun. Far more rational might be to return to his family and turn to agriculture, or if he insisted on fighting for the Entente remnants at least make conservative actions and leave himself retreat options rather that the most aggressive combat tactics.

A third example of irrational revenge was when Lieutenant Weiss charged Anton, when that was tactically suboptimal and earned him several wounds. At least two other members got injured when they might have gotten away unscathed if Weiss listened to reason.

Another example was stabbing Tanya. She didn't like this for multiple reasons. First of all, it really hurt. Also, who pseudo- crucifixes a cute little girl who broke no rules? It wasn't strict crucifixion as in the real deal, there are no supports for the weight of the body, so the natural tendency is for the weight of the body to go down while the nails are in, while Tanya had restraints that pinned her to the cross, which relieved most of the pain, leaving her with "only" the pain of being stabbed and restrained. This wasn't even a good propaganda reason. Physically harming Tanya was more likely to elicit anger than fear, and given over 75% of the Empire is Catholic, nailing her to a cross was likely to send the wrong message. Also, if she died, Austria would regain Lorraine, taken in the war, and might even be able to secure a personal union over the breakaway states, which is forbidden by the Treaty of Copenhagen… so long as all sides follow it. The Republic broke it already simply by physically harming her, but if she bleed to death the British and Entente mediators might not be so kind, even if the Allied Kingdom fought in the anti-Imperial faction for three months in the war.

Also, in how Tanya ended up being Tanya in the first place… who commits homicide in front of so many witnesses? Even after decades of living in her current form, Tanya was still in half disbelief someone could be that stupid. She accepted that someone might try to kill someone in revenge, but there were surly places with no witnesses a homicide might be more feasible? Given that the Tokyo Police are not complete incompetents, the chances of an unemployed man with no combat experience or criminal connects getting away with homicide without witness might be 1/3000, but doing in front of so many witnesses has simply got to be the height of stupidity.

Ironically, trying to drum up revenge for Arene, while completely hypocritical, served the rational purpose of drumming up domestic support for the war. Tanya still doesn't approve of it because she had always hated hypocrisy.

In any event, Tanya's retaliation would be quick and she would abort the moment it appeared her freedom was in jeopardy. Since she had survived to this point, she was sure the others would be able to free her. As she was a condemned criminal, there wouldn't be much difference between "Tanya Degurechaff might be alive and is living a quiet life but we aren't sure" and "Tanya Degurechaff might be alive and committing crimes, but we can't trace her if she is indeed responsible for them"

…

Outside of Rouen 1931

Major Viktoriya Ivanovna Serebryakov and Weiss had planned out the extraction based on the known blueprints of the building and anticipated patrols. A trio had done observations 7 days, 22 days, and 31 days before the rescue operation. A mana inhibitor was likely to be used on Tanya, so it was assumed she would be unable to assist in her own rescue. Now 32 mages of the 203rd would launch a secret attack, along with some of the regulars.

In theory, they had no need for the elements of the Prussian military. But some have insisted on helping them out when someone leaked the rescue plan. Tanya was not going to be happy about the information leak. Viktoriya had reminded them that they had no extraction plan for the regulars at all. At least none of the Austrians asked, since that would be a bit awkward for Charles X's troops to participate in a treaty violation. The Prussians had their links severed from him when they became Prussians.

The prison was located not too far from the city. The city lights could be seen. In the more immediate surroundings, there were plenty of trees. They were spread about one every 10 meters on average, but rather than planted a strict pattern, they had a more random distribution. The grass nearby the prison was overgrown. The main building was a factory in the days of steam before electrical motors.

Security detail involved three perimeters of guards. Each perimeter had a complete closure and one could not ordinarily pass by a single perimeter without being spotted. About 1/7 of the security was not in these perimeters, but inside the prison or around them. Patrols were irregular instead of patterned.

The guard towers also had primitive mana detection equipment. While they could not detect much of a specific location, they could tell if most magical spells are used within a 1 km radius. When there is only one caster, the point can be narrowed down to a 100-120 degree from the direction.

Some spells used on enchanted bullets could not be detected. While an explosion spell would certainly be, a penetrator type that increases the effective mass would not. The difficult part was not overpowering the normal guards, but to avoid triggering an alarm. They approached on foot. One guard wandered away from the prison grounds for an unknown reason. The group held its breath as he approached where one group was hiding. He tripped, and immediately someone pounced on him and knocked him out. He was tied and gagged just in case he regained consciousness.

A technician activated a box close to a circuit. Suddenly, a huge power surge went through the area's systems, tripping circuit breakers. The prison itself ended up coming back with power with a backup source.

"Ok, Plan A isn't likely to work, but we're going to try to get within 100 meters of the complex without being detected. If we can't, at least try to get that close without giving your position with unnecessary spells. Our primary objective is the lieutenant general, all else is secondary" said Weiss.

There were only three suppressed firearms, and sadly they were smoothbore. This meant they had to take out the guards over a prolonged period of time. Some of the guards seemed to have noticed no one reported back from some of the towers in the North and went to investigate, but they were taken out in silent melee.

Staying quiet was the difficult part, particularly for the mages who had no training in this. Suddenly shouts started going off. "We have been detected. Forward!" said Visha.

The group surged and attacked the prison complex in a tree pronged attack. The regulars started making as much attention as possible, pouring rifle fire into the encampments. The mages first tried to stay with them and fire with penetrator style spells. It was to conceal the presence of attacking mages.

Meanwhile, the warden found out what was going on. The complex was being attacked. He ordered his men to get to assigned positions to defend the complex. He also wanted to be sure that if the place would fall, he could execute the prisoners. "Should we sortie?" said Lieutenant Bannon, the leader of the mage team.

"No, I want to keep you in reserve. We want to be able to get identification on the attackers and they will flee if your sortie. With this terrain nearby, you are not likely to be able to capture any of them alive if they try to flee, even though your flight is faster than their running.

As time passed, the intruders kept creeping closer. They really stood little chance despite outnumbering the intruders three to one. Some of the guards were using shotguns, which lacked the fire rate needed. The intruders brought in three field guns used to demolish guards which hid in concealment.

The problem was that the guards were military police units while the attackers were actual infantry men. The intruders used a flamethrower. The warden figured he had them trapped. He had 30 guards on duty that didn't sortie plus 7 mages. The mages were not military, but had basics in flight and aim. A brigade from Rouen was coming in as he watched. He placed his men in strategic locations. He smiled as a few intruders came in through the front door.

"We are detecting manna signatures" said a guard.

The Warden frowned. "How many?" he said.

"From 30 to 90" said the guard.

"Kill them all. I want someone to go and kill prisoner 50" said the warden

"Who's that?" said a guard.

"Oh for Pete's sake, it's the Devil of the Rhine. The adolescent that looks like a little girl. You know, the blond girl who single handedly ruined the first year of the war" said the warden.

Meanwhile, the attacking forces had run out of mortar ammunition. "It's OK, we have line of sight on the General" said Viktoriya. She saw Tanya in her cell, shacked to a mana inhibitor. The cell was once on the interior of the prison.

"Should we try to rescue her directly?" said Corporal Hans Schmitt, a blond mage.

"No, the guards have some anti-air batteries that we haven't neutralized yet. That last 100 meters to her cell we blasted our way to is effectively no man's land or perhaps I should say air. We could certainly go there, but we would suffer some losses, something I am unwilling to do. Some of the regulars are creating a nice distraction though" said Viktoriya.

One guard mage sortied out from the compound and activated his shield as he got bombarded by magical bullets. His shield soon got depleted and they riddled his body with holes. One of the former Imperials rushed forward and gutted him with a bayonet.

"Attention guards. You have 3 minutes to surrender and release all prisoners. All but your mages will be spared" said Viktoriya on an open channel. Someone opened fire in her general direction and she shot back, riddling the man with seven new openings.

"I don't think they understand German" said Granz.

"It was a token effort anyways" said Viktoriya.

"Four mages neutralized. One of the survivors says he wants to surrender and he represents the other" said Weiss.

"Don't accept their surrender. We need to kill them and killing prisoners is a war crime" said Viktoriya.

"Sure, and our commander is a war criminal. It's only a war crime if you do it to the winning side" said Granz with a laugh.

"I got the highest score" said another mage.

"Now didn't we agree that infantry don't count towards a kill count, even if they are using weapons that pose a threat to us?" said Weiss.

"The guards have tried to kill the General at least three times" said Granz, still looking at the cell with a scope.

"Has she made any escape attempts?" said Viktoriya. It was agreed that Tanya should not make any attempts to provoke the guards.

"No" said Granz.

"If they are trying to kill the commander, then give then no quarter" said Weiss. Viktoriya gave no protest. The trial was one thing, but this was too much. She watched as the men fanned out and started killing all who were not previously non lethally incapacitated. Visha saw that some of the mages seemed to have visible glee when they were given the order. Others were furious. Some had no expression, just cold professionalism. A plurality was visibly worried about Tanya.

An hour after the attack started, the operation was a success. Lieutenant General Tanya von Degurechaff was free. "General, here is your operation orb and Mercury Boot" said Viktoriya.

"Thanks Visha" said Tanya. She tightened the boot and put on the E95 Orb. She took off but quickly wobbled and went on an irregular flight path. The acceleration wasn't very high, but her jerk was very high. She was not able to keep up with the tohers and had trouble going more than 100 meters above ground. "Lord, I have been framed by those whose lives are expendable. Allow me to flee and enact your justice" said Tanya. The glow in her eyes changed from colorless on top of her blue irises to a yellow glow. Her flight immediately steadied itself and everything was normal, except when she tried to make a turn.

"Tanya… maybe we should carry you" said Viktoriya. "Most mages can't cast spells after being recently unhooked from a manna inhibitor.

Tanya turned to face her subordinate and object, but this turn put her on an awkward spin. "sure" she said as she straightened her flight. Viktoriya Serebryakov provided support from underneath. A disadvantage of the Empire's flight gear was trouble taking on an extra person, but since Tanya was on her own flight, Viktoriya would not need extra helpers.

…

Outside of Oldenburg 1931

Tanya congratulated her former subordinates and dismissed them. All that was left were Visha and Weiss. "I must stress to you this is strictly for my own benefit, and you will be endangering yourselves over years to help me. Both of you are free to go to your families" said Tanya.

"I said my goodbyes and I'll send a letter now and then" said Viktoriya.

"And my family is dead. Most of my friends are too" said Weiss.

"It's weird to think Visha outranks you now Captain Weiss" said Tanya.

"Well, I was in a hospital for the end of the war while a year later the 203rd needed a commander and disease took out two of your first choices and combat a third. This naturally put a slowdown on my career. I only saw one sortie at the end of the war on the Rhine front and that was with another unit" said Weiss.

"Sorry Visha, I think Weiss was more qualified to take command than you. In another three years under better circumstances I can imagine you might have been ready. But those were not ideal circumstances and we were separated many times sometimes as long as weeks" said Tanya.

"I missed you too" said Viktoriya.

"I meant winning the war with you at my side would have been better for your commanding skills than the actual situation that came out" said Tanya. "Anyways, we need to access the old Imperial intelligence network. This, like all Imperial institutions, were formally disbanded, but the informal network still exists and so do paper records. And if we are discovered, your lives are first and my little plot can be discarded"

The trio entered a bar. The bartender did not check for IDs. There were three parties that were talkative, but the room was oddly quiet. Many people were drinking. "While I've seen many people drinking their sorrows, this is oddly populated" said Viktoriya.

"Actually, the hall should be much quiet. With the massive destruction the war brought, the supply of alcohol is only a third of what it used to be. Coupled with an overall poorer society, I would imagine the demand for beer any or anything besides necessities would drop. Of course, it's possible one bar got all the customers and several others shut down" said Tanya.

There were several people who appeared to be drinking away their sorrows. The closest booth had a trio with tear stained faces. "The war was lost. Karl is dead. Cornelia is dead. Otto is dead. Our little sister was brought across an ocean never to see the fatherland again. Mother died months ago in the Berlin mess. And the White Silver was shot to death" said one of them.

"General Tanya von Degurechaff?" said Tanya, poking into the booth. Her face was somewhat obscured.

"Yeah. Too poor to have a paper? Anyone who isn't working a farm is mourning" said the man. He handed over the newspaper.

"War Criminal Shot in Escape Attempt" read one of the article titles, a bit beneath importance from the headline article about the new Oldenburg government. Tanya wasn't surprised by the slant. Although most of the newspapers were owned by the locals, occupation forces in the Northern parts of the former Empire could override any messages sent through papers, radio, and television. According to the official news, she was killed in an escape attempt. She wondered what the Francois Republic was thinking when they made that up. In the end, it didn't matter.

"Hmmm, interesting" said Tanya. She could never be recognized publically or else the victorious powers would hunt her down relentlessly. Keep a magical shield up even during combat couldn't be done indefinably, excluding the weak one that only works on air. Even Tanya could be hunted down by shooting with supersonic weaponry when she wasn't looking at the shooter, which is why mages were always taught to keep the foe in their sight. This is why she made the decision to not reappear in public, although getting seen by others now and then as long as they were solo and not associated with the enemy could be attributable to plausible deniability if reports ever got out.

However, it seems that they were willing to wash their hands off the whole matter. Perhaps the Allied Kingdom put some sense into them, or perhaps this provided a convenient closure for the voters of the victors, most of which celebrated her conviction. Covert ops squads might be after Tanya for all she knew, but only those who knew she was alive would come after her, so they aren't going to commit a large amount of manpower to her. Tanya saw at least 7 Rurugen lookalikes in the Imperial military as army officers, so she probably had her own lookalikes, although probably not in the military.

"I guess we can say you're dead and back commander" said Weiss.

"Is there a reason you want to hit the intelligence archives?" said Visha.

Tanya reconsidered her immediate plans. For the purposes of setting up her new life, this new venture was going to be little more than a tangent. On the other hand, her pride was hurt and she wanted to get back. Was this not unlike the revenge trap so many other have fallen to?

No, this was different. True, she was plotting a few deaths on those who she despised, fitting the description of revenge perfectly. However, it was not revenge before reason. People do things for pleasure, and what she was about to do was not much different than someone who chose to consume a recreation drug. The main difference here was that the risk of addiction was replaced with the risk of getting caught. And unlike addiction, she could plan out the risks and minimize it. If there was even a 1 in 3000 chances of being physically harmed, losing her freedom, or getting identified by a credible source, she would abandon this quest and proceed without it. Yes this was revenge, but Tanya was determined it would not consume her or compromise her more important goals.

"It's true we may not be Imperial soldiers anymore. Therefore it is no longer our job to create corpses out of Russians, Republicans, Americans, and so on for the sake of the military. But there is one last job that would be more suited for the former intelligence department. However, since they are defunct, we'll have to do with their records" said Tanya/

Three days later, the trio approached an estate. The manor house was well off despite the general chaos going on in the successor nations. "Hmmm, looks like we're not the first one here" said Weiss.

"Another burglar?" said Tanya. While waiting for the good colonel to come home, she had done seven vigilante killings and was see in three of them by the crime victims, although not too closely. Tanya didn't want to admit it, but killing these inferior humans, who statistically were unlikely to become lawful productive members of society, brought satisfaction to her. Was it genetics?

She flew into the broken window and into a hall.

…

Lieutenant Colonel Enrich von Rerugen of Oldenburg, formerly Colonel von Rerugen of the Imperial Army, was startled awake from his sleet. His promotion to general was about to be confirmed, since he was dealing with the responsibilities of a dead superior, when the war ended. He had just returned home from a meeting with the occupiers and some of the successor states. Some of the victors are having some internal unrest and he guessed they wanted to wrap out the new system before they had to leave.

Even he felt sorry for Tanya von Degurechaff. While he always feared this monster in a little girl's body, he was mainly concerned with what she might do to the Empire or her ideology on other officers. However, for whatever reasons his fears turned out unfounded. Tanya mgiht indeed be a terrible person. But she was not the one who destroyed the Empire and in fact her loyalty was never broken. The trial was nothing more than a sham based on what he read. It was a shame, but if there was a consolation, he would never see her again.

There were noises going around. It seemed to be a lot of rummaging.

"Hey, I didn't ask for the maintenance to be done at night!" said Rerugen, annoyed. There was some work that needed to be done on the walls, roof, and electricity that he neglected during the war. He finally got a contractor to agree to do so. Only the super-rich that still had their wealth could demand the best jobs done immediately, but those willing to wait months could find willing workers who had gotten ahold of materials from the outside world.

As he got out into the hall, he realized something was wrong with the sounds. A man in a ski mask came out of a door with a huge full sack, followed by two others.

"Hey! That's mine" said Rerugen. The leader took out a knife and the others raised their firsts, with the sacks falling to the ground. "Wait, you can have that on second thought" said Rerugen backing off.

"Should we let him talk to the police after he saw our faces?" said one of them.

"He can't see our faces. Uh, let me think about this one" said the leader.

Rerugen heard the sound of rapid air movement. It sounded like a mage moving erratically. No, it had to be his imagination. Flight was possible in this constrained manor, but there were only 32 mages he knew that could probably do it at such speed without crashing into the mess of his un-kept house, and one that defiantly could. All were named mages, the ones who had great maneuver skills, and all were dead.

The next sound he heard was a bayonet going into flesh and a scream. In the dark he didn't get a good look, but a small figure with long hair had entered the scene and was attacking. The newcomer quickly dispatched the looters and came forward with a smile. Wait, it couldn't be.

"Hi Colonel Rerugen. We were going to wait outside the manor, but it seemed some others got here first. Let's talk" said the figure as she stepped forward. If the looters didn't come and she greeted him after breakfast, it would have been the last face he wanted to see.

"You're alive?"

* * *

Arthur's Note: Hey, I finally figured out how to do that line to separate the story body and notes! I'm really going to try to at least finish this one... sorry for the wait.

Author's Note: If anyone wants to help me out, give me a PM. I have this idea for chapter 7 and I need help on "how does a normal person react" to two sitautions.


	4. Chapter 3 Part 2

Alexander

Erich von Rerugen gasped at the sight of the blond girl. She was wearing an old Imperial Uniform which was not properly ironed or cleaned for some time. Her long blond hair was tied up in a ponytail. The figure carried a rifle and bayonet. While she had a childish appearance, he knew it was an adolescent who was developing rather slowly.

"Hi Rerugen~ I'm sorry that your promotion was only confirmed after Vienna lost Oldenburg and in effect no longer had any authority to confirm it. I see you are having some trouble with a few burglars. Good thing I showed up" said the girl with a smile.

"Lieutenant General Tanya von Degurechaff" said Rerugen. It was _almost_ the last person he wanted to see. If the looters hadn't shown up and threatened him, it would be the last person. This monster in the form of a little girl was the perfect one for their strike forces and why the Empire had any chance once the Allied Kingdom declared war in support of Republic remnants. But now there were no longer any valid targets for her.

As much as he pitied Tanya for the show trial, he feared her more than he pitied her.

Tanya stepped forward with a smile. "You look anxious" said Tanya.

"What are you doing?" said Rerugen while gesturing.

"Me? I'm here to ask questions. I need someone in the personnel department. Or are you talking about the corpses? Don't worry, the Empire has no need for criminals" said Tanya.

Rerugen sighed. "Let's wait until the morning" said Rerugen.

That morning a worker prepared meals for the party. "I see you brought two others" said Rerugen.

"Captain Weiss reporting" said Weiss.

"Major Serebryakov present" said Viktoriya Serebryakov.

"I don't recognize Weiss" said Rerugen.

"He was sick for a lot of the war. A lot of the survivors were affected by the plagues" said Tanya.

"What do you want?" said Rerugen.

"I need the addresses of various members of the old intelligence department" said Tanya.

"We no longer have formal connections" said Rerugen.

"But you could contact them if you wanted to can't you?" said Weiss.

"What would you do with this?" said Rerugen.

"I plan to go around and start going through archives and asking people" said Tanya.

"What information?" said Rerugen.

"I'll be honest old friend. I plan to make assassinations" said Tanya.

"Who needs to die?" said Rerugen.

"Did you watch my trial? I plan to get all of them, if doing so is feasible without getting caught or harmed" said Tanya.

"This includes the prime minster of the Republic, George Valois. An assassination of a head of state is grounds for war. I can't sanction anything that could have blowback to the Empire" said Rerugen.

"You mean Oldenburg? We were dismantled. Also, he's only the prime minister, not head of state. Legally he can be replaced by anyone in his party that is also an MP" chuckled Tanya.

"Anyways, there is no blowback if I can't be traced back to the Empire. International observers are looking in the successor state governments so they should be able to determine it was not say Austria which authorized an assassination. With an uncaught assassin who is not even seen on one hand and the Austrian government being monitored enough to know it's not them, whose going to put the blame on the defunct Empire?" said Tanya.

"So taking this into consideration, do you believe they have a right to be spared? Can you make up rules for war during a war and hold the other side to it? How about accusing a girl of sexual assault as a war crime? In fact the general rule is that physical and direct mental damage (as in brain damage or magically altering their minds) to people or property can be considered war crimes depending on the treaties, but causing psychological damage can only be considered a national crime, although they chose to change it just for me. Did they do anything for the Empire? Did they make life for the commoners any easier? Can you even say their own people are better off independent with much of the population dead compared to annexation by the Empire, but a restoration of infrastructure which might have stopped the plagues?" finished Tanya.

"These people are hypocrites. It's one thing if they simply declared as the winners they could do such a thing, but they just pulled their justices out of their asses. Furthermore, there is the whole war guilt thing by the logic that it's an undeniable fact that the first 3,000 casualties ignoring the Entente Empire conflict were Republicans, never mind that they were on our side of the boarder" said Visha.

"By your logic, their lives are expendable. And more disturbingly, a lot of the Empire slowly took in your thinking, even the Kaiser to a lesser extent. But every time we tried to show mercy, it backfired. We offered the Entente pre-war boarders and only token payment when Dakia attacked, but they turned us down. Early in the war we paroled a lot of captured Republic soldiers who were told they were free to go home as long as they didn't work in manufacturing or bear arms for the rest of the war. 7/8 of them joined the Republic remnants in Africa. The Empire has been pitted against the world for defending its rightful territory. And the scary thing… I think if you talk with me for a week, you might be able to convince me their lives are expendable" said Rerugen. The plagues that took place in an uncontrolled environment in the war killed three of his high school friends and his litter sister. It left Rerugen a bitter man and Tanya kept being proven right both on tactical decisions and the attitudes of the wider world. The idea that killing was right outside of a war, self-defense, or crime punishment repulsed the old Rerugen and mildly disturbed the current him.

"I'm not here to win a debate. But safe to say, none of us are going to miss my targets. Furthermore, if I am good at keeping my tracks covered, then there will not be any backlash to the Empire's successor states, right?" said Tanya.

"This is true, but your best attacks attract a lot of attention" said Rerugen.

"I have help. And I've gotten good at field craft" said Tanya.

Rerugen considered. "All you want is addresses right?" said Rerugen. Tanya nodded. Rerugen took out a scrap of paper.


	5. Chapter 3 Part 3

Augsburg 1931

Using the list of the old intelligence network, Tanya, Visha, and Weiss contacted many in the former intelligence arms across the successor states. It was decided to exclude those in Austria.

To Tanya's surprise, plenty of people were willing to give a "dead" hero all information they had despite the fact that the war was over. No one even asked if she was continuing the war in their name.

The intelligence arms of Bavaria, Prussia, and Czechoslovakia had already been reestablished and most of them used the old personnel. As Tanya had anticipated, Entente, Dakian, and Republic monitors were present, presumably forwarding the information to their own intelligence agencies. Officially, until "permeant peace" was established clandestine operations were to cease, but the victors were already trying to jockey into the best post-war positions.

What Tanya anticipated was also true. There was monitoring of the intelligence departments' various activities. The observers didn't know the identity of the agents and assets, but they did know all knew activities that started. Presumably they also have veto power over any operation that could be considered sensitive.

However also as Tanya anticipated, where the information went was not so tightly monitored. In other words, the victors took precautions to keep the successor states from spying into information too sensitive, but they didn't take any precautions against leaks, presuming the intelligence departments would prevent the leaks themselves.

This was not true. At the three highest levels of the intelligence departments, they were political cronies who might know the business, but wouldn't dare an unauthorized leak. As for the rest, a quick bribe would get most to spill beans if they didn't think it would endanger their colleagues and sources. Of course, sometimes the information the assets bring pretty much give away the source. Tanya already encountered a pan-German nationalist who bribed information rom the Bavarian agency and seven who were from the Austrian counterparts.

The first assassination target was George Valois, Prime Minister of the Republic. For this, a former intelligence officer named Klaus Dovrak. He was a tall, with dark hair, porcelain white skin, and a fat build. Despite looking overweight plus some muscular arms, he was actually quite agile, doing acrobatics when Tanya and Visha found him.

"What would you do if Tanya 'the White Silver" von Degurechaff was alive?" asked Viktoriya.

"I would hug her like a doll. Or something. Crusifixation so cruel, poor girl. Even actual war criminals don't deserve that, a simple hanging or shooting would do. And that girl was an angel" said Klaus.

"Why aren't you working for Czechoslovakia's intelligence arm? You have 37 years of experience and your mind and body is still sharp" said Viktoriya,

"It's Bohemia!" shouted Klaus.

"The country that went into the Empire during formation was Bohemia, and if Prague is forced away, we will leave as Bohemia" said Klaus. It sounded like it was a bit of a sore point. "I can actually trace my ancestry to 3 different married pairs of nobles from Bohemia. Hmmm, all my ancestries were through legitimate marriages, I wonder why at some point before the Empire formed, they started getting treated like commoners and eventually bascailyl becoming commoners"

"It probably was due to landless second sons marrying middle class people at some point in the past, although I didn't look at your tree to know for sure. I heard from supervisor Julius you kept archives of the old regime" said Viktoriya.

"Yeah, that's right. Technically, I was never ordered to destroy all copies, only hand over the originals to the victors and destroy duplicates, but in Bohemia and Austria a duplicate of a document only refers to the first copy besides the original. They never said destroy all copies. I wonder why you bothered to track me so far from my countryside home to me while I am on vacation. I'm a simple farmer now" said Klaus. He brought out a large flag.

"And Garak on that American Sci-Fi TV show was just a tailor. I see you not only brought your daughter, but also the flags of the city of Prague, the defunct Kingdom of Bohemia, and the Empire. Those are quite large. You must be fairly committed to those ideas if you lugged them here… hey!" said Tanya.

A brunette girl grabbed Tanya and was squeezing her. "Hey, father, she's really cute. Isn't it a bit too soon for people to do reenactments of Tanya? I mean she way she died…" said a tall girl.

"Tanya Degurechaff? Is it my imagination? I thorugh you were killed in an escape attempt" said Klaus.

"Stop it! I'm older than you, there isn't a need to do this" said Tanya.

"No way?" said the girl. She rubbed Tanya. "If you're older than me with these little mosquito bites you'd have to be a boy" Tanya forcefully broke out.

"Ah, sorry about Mary. She's had an obsession with little girls since her little sister died" said Klaus. He looked around. "It looks like it's safe enough to talk as there isn't anyone here in the park" said Klaus.

"This is what a plague without penicillin or quarantine looks like. The escape attempt was successful, and a minor manhunt is among those that are in the loop are after me. There are only around 3,000 actively searching for me in the field, the rest are just paper pushers. If you are dedicated to the old regime, I'd like your help. Charles X would have wanted you to help me" said Tanya.

"How did you know this?" said Klaus.

"One of the active arms is spying on the Republic intelligence. Since the observers and from the Allied Kingdom… the only requirement was information be forwarded to them. Until I showed up, the managers thought my death was real and this was a case of seeing a blond girl causing confusion among them. I'd personally like your help to both confirm the information on my pursuers and acquire information about targets I plan to hunt down" said Tanya.

"Assassination just seems a bit too dark for you. I know you kill on the battlefield but…" said Klaus.

Tanya considered the best way to approach this. Klaus was most defiantly not going to blow her secrecy, but they needed his contact and copies. "Crucifixion was one of the cruelest methods of executions even plenty of Romans thought it was excessive and those that accepted it considered it only for the worst crimes. While I didn't die that way, there was probably killing intent involved. Jesus Christ went through that willingly so that humans could be saved from sins. But in my case…" said Tanya. Her face wasn't entirely fake. Assuming this Bible's story could be taken at face value, something that Tanya considered a possibility since the day she was… Tanya, she did feel pity for the man for the pain he had to go through and much more self-pity for herself.

"I get it… these people aren't going to be missed by us and you can't wait for the Lord to deal with them. To be honest, I wouldn't want to wait either" said Klaus. "Wait until I take you home. There are seven people I think that could help you. And I do have information that coud be useful" said Klaus.

West of the Rhine in the Republic 1931

At Verdun military base, not to be confused with the city it was named after, Prime Minister George Valois was doing an inspection. He was annoyed with one of the commanding officers who had wasted a lot of supplies recently. In particular, a lot of fuel and food had disappeared for no good reason.

This was not particularly the best times. The humiliation and imprisonment of The Devil of the Rhine had given him the expected boost in popularity of the military, but also the civilian population. However, the president had told him that calling elections should be avoided as much as possible. Therefore, he had to put up with three junior coalition members that collectively made up 10% of the MPs. In theory, he only really needed the supply of two of them, but backing out of an established deal would cost political goodwill. In the past, the population didn't like prime ministers who called for new elections just to unshackle themselves form a coalition. The coalition agreements covered many contingencies, so disagreeing voer what was already agreed upon wouldn't be looked favorably on.

There was also the problem of the 3rd Breton Extermination project that happened pre-war by his Minister of the Interior. Around 30,000 Breton speaking households who refused to demonstrate fluency in French by the heads of households were killed before the program was halted. The intention of French for the Francois Republic meant French was the only working language and the best language that all citizens should learn, not an excuse to off others. Valois had to sack him for exceeding his authority and wasting funds. After 35 years of peace, there was unrest thanks to that moron, which the war didn't help.

This also meant that when the war was declared, some of their logistics was still off foot. International law dictated giving a 170 ultimatum before declaring war or starting hostilities unless the casus belli is existing hostilities between the two parties. This would mean telling the Empire to demobilize it's armies and spare the Entente, but there was the danger the Empire might use the time to prepare for an attack or agree to the ultimatum. As 75% of the Republic's citizens wanted the Empire wiped off the map, as few powers even wanted the Empire to exist beyond Austria and the Hapsburg 18th century crownlands, this was the opportunity to fulfill. Unfortunately, informing the logistics teams would also mean alternating the Empire's intelligence network, so Valois had no choice but to order the invasion while a significant portion of his forces were three months from mobilization. Even the units designed to invade and should have been ready got rebuffed and it was a slaughter as the Imperials counterattacked for a week before the Republic retook the initiative, ironically at the time war could be allowed to be declared if they gave the notice instead of a sneak attack.

Valois got as far as he did after the recapture of Parisee by promising he would make the Empire pay in the peace deal. With the Americans behind them, there was no way they could lose the war at that point. And he fulfilled his campaign promises on foreign affairs to a T.

At least everyone in the base of 3,000 maintained a good level of professionality. There was a small perimeter with guard towers and anti-air weapons around the main base. 25% of this small perimeter didn't represent the outside of the base. That's because the west side had included a smaller wall with no enhancements to contain the airfield. So 25% of the smaller perimeter with the fancier wall was actually an internal one.

He rode over to a small building by the airfield. Valois waited three hours, reading a book and doing some paperwork. When he noticed the time, he realized someone should have picked him up an hour before. He left his the building and went around to the hangers.

Hmmm, that didn't look quite right. He didn't know the hangers contained damaged planes. Seven of them not only contained bullet holes but were clearly inoperable. He looked up to the break room. George Valois saw an officer Michael Baptiste through the glass. Michael stood there silently.

George Valois climbed some staircase and opened the door. "Lieutenant Baptiste where is everyone?" said Valois. The man moved awkwardly backwards into a different door. Wait, that appeared to be a hand!

"I hear my epithet is 'Devil of the Rhine Prime Minister" said a voice in uneasy English.

"That voice… impossible!" said Valois first in French and then in English.

Tanya Degurechaff stepped from behind the door. Valois saw the a mage in an Imperial Dress Uniform. "Baptiste is dead. Like a lot of people. Didn't your own people tell you the truth about my death?"

"We have 32 mages here. There is no way you could have" said Valois.

"Only 3 are on patrol at any given time. I did so far away and before anyone could hear. At peacetime security is laxer. As for the others, we were creative. I never poisoned anyone to death before. Well, there is a first time for everything you do" said Tanya. "Anyways, I'm here to return the favor"

"You deserved what was coming Degurechaff, I read the reports du Lugo came up for you. I saw the casualty list. My nice was killed by you!" screamed Valois.

"Scream all you want, anyone in this section is too far hear to hear you. Now, for anyone else, I only plan to kill them. As for you, I have something special"

A blond voluptuous girl appeared behind Tanya. She was clad in the maintenance uniform. She was carrying a large pole with 2 glued smaller cylindrical objects to shape it like a T. Valois's eyes widened.

"Hey Visha, you said while his death was deserved, it was a shame we couldn't arrange a last meal. At least the doomed man will get to see a pretty girl outside your bulky uniform, so he gets eye candy" joked Tanya in German.

"Are you sure about this?" said Viktoriya.

"For the others, I don't care how they die. For Valois, we prepared something special. This is a specimen of the actual thing he reamed through me. Hey, since my drool was on the wound spot, does that count as an indirect kiss? He doesn't deserve one from a cute girl" said Tanya.

"Indirect kiss?" said Viktoriya.

"God, don't let her cast any spells!" screamed Valois as he ran towards the exit.

"Oh, don't worry. I have no need to pray to Being X. As normal soldiers, we can take care of your right now" said Tanya in German. She shot him in the leg.

After letting Valois bleed while nailed to a cross, the group waited three more hours before Tanya made stabs with hey bayonet. "The extra stabs make lethal blood loss. A man of his stature wouldn't be able to handle as third as much. Oh would be too slow to wait until the next day for him to expire"

Tanya's radio squaked. "Done General?" said Weiss.

"Yeah. We need to move to the next target" said Tanya. "Disappointed you missed the execution?"

"A bit, but you were not entirely sure the garrison would stick to the schedules, so someone needs to watch. How much collateral damage are we prepared to do?" said Weiss.

"Anyone part of the Republic is acceptable collateral damage, the same way our people were acceptable targets at the end of the war. Any military personnel from the victors such as America, Illoda, or Dakia are acceptable targets, so we'll try to avid civilian losses there"

"The Republic was not the only nation to not recognize us" said Viktoriya.

"That's true, only the Allied Kingdom recognize the right of the Empire to exist. It's why all past peace deals was signed with them since other powers singing an agreement in Berun would be an acknowledgement of our existence.

"Why are you harvesting his kidney?"

"I read some materials on old ritual magic done in the medieval ages. Scholars agree that most of those feats are possible but they require concentration, power, technique, and materials. I am the first mage in 7 generations that have close to as much raw power as the legends, and in fact more. One of these ritual spells could ensure us all we need for decades. If it was a criminal job, I'd say it's one last job, but the ritual magic isn't illegal, although material requisition might be.

* * *

Author's Note: In my story Viktoriya is blond, let's say she had artificial dye as her days as a corporal. Basically imagine the anime not the manga look, except that I liked the LN art with them having the same hair color since that made them look like sisters.


	6. Chapter 3 Part 4

Lederhosen, Chezeslovakia 1931

Tanya's first question when entering the town outskirts was why did a German word come as a name in Bohemia when 75% of the locals were monoglot Chez spekaers.

Tanya Degurechaff found her prize. Archfield von Schurgel had kept a series of magical artifacts from ages of before. There was the famed Oracle Orb, supposedly used by a legendary Briton magician called Marlin. There were seven confirmed users, and Tanya herself was unable to operate it during the dying ways of the war. The Water Chalice allowed a mage to extract any impurities, setting aside the impurities into a ring one meter around the object when used. Inside the chalice after activation was pure water. The Mind Reading Helmet allowed certain mages to read the minds of the helmet wearer… if the mage had an operation orb and was in direct contact with the helmet.

The reason magical artifacts were disfavored was that they seemed finkey. The most receptive of these artifacts were useable by 1/3000 mages. This was restricting to mages, not including all magically capable people, a lot of which are sometimes called "failed mage candiates." In contrast, any mage could use most operation orbs. There were some "newer generation" types every now and then, but most mages from the 1500s could theoretically use a modern Operation Orb, albeit only to the capabilities of the spells that they knew rather than modern spells. The Elenium 95 Orb was an exception. The multi core orbs had problems with mana synchronization. Once a certain input was made, the cores could be set in sync and would only come out with deliberate sabotage from the user. Unfortunately even Tanya Degurechaff could not stabilize the E95 prototype on her own and needed literal divine intervention to avoid blowing up.

Also inside his library was a series of books about magic. This included theory of magic, manna flow, the use of operation orbs as processors, and more. What attracted Tanya was ritual magic. This was simple enough in theory. Basically, one needed to make certain signs with 120 degree rotational symmetry, the actual design varying based on the spell. Certain materials would be used by the ritual as consumption materials. The mage would then use the operation orb and the drawings to direct manna flor and an output would come.

Unfortunately, there was very little pattern one could infer from ritual magic. Knowing one ritual did little more than tell you how to do it, there were no spell families with commonality in signs, as one would expect from video game logic. Tanya quickly brushed away some memories of a Nintendo Famicon. She never was a video game enthusiast, but acknowledged could be a form of entertainment like reading a book, or killing off inferior humans.

Schrugel eagerly approved of Tanya's use of his resources. He considered pretty much any non-monetary favor that didn't' involve exposing secrets as fair game. "God must have wanted this. He wanted you to come to advance magic. I'll document this for future generations, don't worry the names stay in my mind only apostle" said the mad scientist.

The particular ritual required preserved human body parts, which is probably why it wasn't used that often even in the days ritual magic was popularized. The ritual she was aiming for was sometimes called the Vampiric Immortality Drain. This was a bit of misnomer for several reasons. First of all, there was no blood involved whatsoever. Another part of it was that it could make a person ageless, but it could not grant true immortality. There is still disease, starvation, and wounds to consider. The third reason the original name was quite wrong was the "Drain" part which implied a transfer, perhaps a transfer of youth or something. This was not the case at all.

So perhaps the entire name was wrong. A more suitable name might have been "Ageless Ritual," but Tanya wasn't the mage who came up with the name. It had been confirmed performed for 35 times by 3 mages in the past. 30 times the recipient had lived 3 decades beyond the ritual. In 3 cases, they lived beyond the natural lifespan of a person, 130, 150, and 500 years. All were dead and long gone. Supposedly over 3,000 people had been granted this so called immortality. These were people who died less than a decade after due to mundane causes like starvation or disease.

The ingredients used were not exactly the cheapest. Gold was used as a manna separator. An analogy might be painting on a surface and using a separate material the paint repels to keep the lines from blurring together. Cesium, Sodium, Lithium, and Aluminum pure metals were also used. It required a large quantity of hydrogen peroxide. These were the "chemical" ingredients

The other incidents were what mages called the "functional" or "human use" ingredient. These were usually defined in their appearance to humans and not basically components. One ritual for example required a spoon, metals of similar shapes failed to work. It was due to this and some other magic being dependent on users that caused some magic engineers to tie magic to god. Why else would there be so many ties with magic and human perception.

The functional ingredients included cloths, pottery, soil, tools, and preserved human flesh, preferably within 3 hours after death. Requirements were 35 hearts, 7 livers, 15 intestines, 3 stomachs, 7 arms, 7 spleens, and 3003 right kidneys from 3077 people. And killing and preservation with formalin is more or less what Tanya had been doing over the past 3 months. Various names have been given to the killing spree. Some called the perpetrator "The Angel of Death" Other names were "The Cold Dark Sweet Kiss of Death" Her third name was "Gods Judgement"

During her time, Tanya was busy. Tanya had killed 35 primary revenge targets. Also included was 145 "acceptable nationality collaterals" which were people from countries like the Republic who had also voted for politicians responsible for the terms of the Treaty of Copenhagen or Tanya's trial. Part of the country who had voted for the Empire's misery was a bonus. Three targets were "correct nationality collaterals" who were part of those countries who had caused the problems, but their voting patterns were unknown. Tanya and the others collected some raw voting information from the Republic, America, and Illoda. In other words these were of a nation that caused the Empire a lot of grief, but their voting pattern was unknown. Tanya honestly didn't care a whole lot. If they were part of the majority, then their lives could be considered expendable for voting for those politicians. If they were not, then Tanya's wants matters more than their lives, she had enough of acting like an average utilitarian and she could be selfish. Another 400 were "military nationality collaterals" which were military members of the Empire's enemies.

The 35 primary revenge targets were the ones Tanya decided she wanted to kill. This included three America politicians in Europe responsible for the sanctioned kidnapping of female ex-Imperial for America's eugenics program. If they really wanted "fresh genetic stock" they only needed to bring some men over, have some boning, and then let them go home. Since the victors just wanted to rub salt into the wound, they kidnapped some people to ask to raise their hybrids. Tanya was blond, had blue eyes, porcelain white skin, was considered good looking, was intelligent, an apparently a nice personality (to superiors at least) and had youthful features. This meant that if she was released at trial, she was subject to this program since only nobility was spared and Prussia abolished the nobility. Of course, the prosecutors and those that caused direct harm were bigger targets than the Americans.

Collaterals included bodyguards of those people and annoying witnesses. Tanya was pretty stealthy, but a bit less so than a multi assassination program called for. She didn't mind some others seeing her from afar, but anyone who would recognize her and would talk needed to be eliminated one way or another. With Viktoriya and Wises she could perform he zone of truth. Zone of truth was illegal to use for interrogations or any method that could be used to collect court evidence, but in her case she didn't care. Those that would compromise her were collateral deaths and those who promised not to tell anyone who might leak information to the public were spared.

And then there were the criminals. Tanya killed 375 people committing attempted rapes, 100 attempted kidnappers, 850 drug dealers, and 1201 burglars, most of these were inside the former Empire. A functional justice system could take in evidence, weigh them, and determine guilty. Letting 3,000 guilty people go free is a lesser evil than letting one innocent be condemned. The punishments would be chosen in a way to deter future crime. In the case of Tanya going vigilante, she knew who were guilty right off the bat, and proportionality of punishment really didn't matter because she was enjoying herself at their expense and they are statistically unlikely to reform if caught anyways. Besides, given that the criminal justice system weakened during the plagues and nearly fell apart with the loss of the war, she was pretty much doing the successor states a social good. Surprisingly, the successor stats had a low crime rate, meaning she often had to break into a police station, examine the suspects, and then go figure out guilt herself, often going into houses without warrants. She could honestly tell Viktoriya that these people were indeed criminals, even when the crimes were not committed in front of them.

Something about this bothered Tanya.

In her former life, the salaryman who would one day be her did indeed kill once. His sister in law was being mugged. The salaryman saw the scene in a cliché dark alley. The assailant took out a knife. The salaryman judged the consequences of leaving or staying. His sister in law's happiness mattered to him directly very little but her temperament did affect how she would be during family gathers and such. His brother would be annoyed if he left without a fight. His father would claim he had disgraced the Takeda family by letting his sister in law become "a psychologically damaged girl". His own co-workers might consider him a coward. Therefore, he had to make at least a token attempt to rescue. The assailant had fractured her left leg during an earlier struggle and was wielding a weapon, therefore, lethal force was perfectly legal so he didn't have to do that "proportional force" nonsense which had the possibility of not incapacitating the target. He could go all out until he decided to retreat.

The salaryman didn't have a beer belly and in fact was fairly strong given the computer time spent during work. However, he defiantly had less stamina and no fighting experience while a thug certainly would. After exchange threats, he threw a chair which missed. The assailant tried a groin kick at the salaryman. This attack was ill advised. It is true it would hurt a lot regardless of the gender of the target. As the salaryman's daughter Miyuki would say, in video game terms the attack had a high base damage even before times three bonus against males. But this attack was unwieldy and could be easily dodged by an anticipating foe, even one who is much slower. After the kick was dodged, he counterattacked the assailant with an improvised hip throw followed by repeatedly ramming the man's head into the wall.

So what did the salaryman who would one day die in front of a train feel? It wasn't joy. He was tired. His good suit was ruined. He saved a family member, but it was only for reputation reasons. For the next week while his body ached, he wished that day never came. And the stupid police still needed to detain for questioning on the grounds he might have killed a "mere" burglar who had no intention of bodily harm. This is why "he started it" or "you have the right to kill to defend flesh and _property_ " is a better rule than "don't kill unless life is in danger."

On that fateful day in Norden, Tanya's life was in danger. It was just supposed to be an ordinary day, completing her training. But then the war started. Tanya was given a field promotion and ordered to delay the enemy for 10 minutes at all costs. This was nearly an impossible mission for an average Imperial mage.

There were additional disadvantages. Contrary to early reports, she could indeed wield a rifle at the age of 9. But there were problems which saddled Tanya that an ordinary mage would not be saddled with. A normal mage caries 30 magazines of ammunition due to flight spells enabling carrying weights exceeding infantry loads. On a reconnaissance mission, 9 reloads might be provided. For training, 2 spare clips might be offered. Given that Tanya had trouble carrying extra weight, it was decided not to weight her down with extra ammunition on a training exercise. To oversimplify, magic mostly applies non-uniform thrusts upward and horizontally, but due to the body of a child, Tanya likely could not handle the stress. An additional problem was that Tanya could not handle the recoil very well. She knew from training that tiring at maximum rate of fire caused her aim to deteriorate to the point it was barely better than aiming in the general direction of the target even when it was stationary. Fortunately the bullets left the barrel before her body shook, but to aim properly at that time, she needed to fire at a rate slower than most bolt-action rifles could fire. Tanya was not completely trained in evasive maneuvers and needed to think on the fly about thrusts to maximize dodging chances. Tanya was not an ordinary army mage at that time, just a weak novice who had some speed and dance to her flight.

Tanya wasted no time in dealing with the enemy. There was no way to win and running away was cowardice. She needed to put up a fight and make it known she didn't choose to go down but was forced down, while avoiding lethal shots. After the ordeal, she awoke in a hospital bed, with the double edged sword of a reward ceremony and the silver wings award. Once again there was no joy in the deed itself. She felt that it was good to be praised for one's hard work, but she hoped the superiors would not interpret it to mean that she could be put into harms' way.

Tanya's first encounter with Being X in her body was during the Elenium 95 testing. Things were starting to get personal. Also, for ten years… isn't Being X lacking certain features a god worth worshipping should have like patience? Anyways, it was this point the orb was cursed and Tanya forced to act as an advertisement of Being X.

Something changed during the Rhine front. Tanya felt some satisfaction, pleasure when she killed her first Republic foe. This continued kill after kill when she destroyed enemy mages. She had expected something similar against the Entente bombers when she went back into Norden once more. However, the young major was in for some disappointment. Her first mission on the return to Norden was relieving Viper Battalion and saving the supply depot. Tanya expected some exhilaration when she climbed above the bomber height and tossed grenades, killing them one by one. There was some joy, but much less than she hoped for. It seemed the feeling was strongest when killing mages. Tanya considered it might be due to killing mages be something of a puzzle solving problem, but the battles happened to quick for that to be the case and she danced too fast.

It wasn't that Tanya preferred killing over a nice safe rear echelon job. The Rhine Front was hard and being in a rapid response battalion was even harder. Aside from the hard physical work, which was generally more unpleasant than paperwork, there was the problem that her life was in danger, which was something she wanted to avoid at all costs. Mages were not as invincible as Imperial propaganda makes them out to be. A magical shield could not be sustained indefinably. If a mage tried to tank attacks, he would only be able to stand up in 3 separate 6 minute intervals. Dodging or putting shields up for a few seconds was much more manna efficient. This presented another problem. Supersonic bullets could not be dodged if a mage faced the wrong direction. This was proven almost fatal to Tanya at the end of the war when her faction ruled the skies, but she tried to land at base which had been overrun in a human wave tactic an hour before. However, there was some satisfaction to killing enemies than Tanya never experienced before, and didn't even had on that fateful day in Norden when the war started. If the effort to convert an enemy mage to a corpse was 1/3000 of what it actually took, then the frontline job and the desk job would be equally good assuming the same pay.

Unfortunately, the actual amount of effort it took on average to turn an enemy mage into an enemy corpse was… the amount of effort it took to kill them. Not more, certainly not less. Some were easier and some were harder, but none were as easy as what the threshold would have been. The desk job looked very attractive, but it kept eluding Tanya. At the end of the war, every mage was being used on the frontlines, even officers and training personnel.

It was not an addiction. Tanya could go without killing just fine, no withdrawal symptom nonsense. The satisfaction was something weird. It wasn't hugely pleasurable, but at the same time it wasn't exactly boring. It less satisfying than a good walk in a nature reserve, watching a good movie, eating a good meal, or consuming child pornography, and killing was certainly less satisfying than being rpaised for one's hard work, but at the same time the pleasure wasn't zero. It was something different.

Actually, Tanya reminded herself, scratch that on the child pornography. Killing expendable people was certainly less satisfying than how she remembered doing any of those activities from her past life. Tanya as herself did walk and enjoy some of the best places the Empire had to offer. One of them was even an orphanage trip sponsored by the Catholic Church. Tanya saw seven feature length movies, and the three good ones were entertaining. She wondered what the tastes of her subordinates were if they enjoyed the others. While Tanya didn't like a lot of the German food, some of it was good and still better than how she felt when killing enemy mages. The Japanese food at the embassy was also really good. And being praised for one's hard work is always good.

As for child pornography, it appears to be much less satisfying than she remembered. While she didn't consume any, she had a chance to see nude children of both genders in the orphanage before she was five. No one minded changing in front of her, from the young children who could barely dress themselves to the teenagers. And Tanya certainly had a chance to look at herself in the mirror. And… well it was pretty boring. It was about as interesting as watching paint dry on walls. As a child Tanya could have sworn this was supposed to be fun based on memories, but it really wasn't. Killing was better. Of course, being in danger to do the killing in the first place would be less pleasurable than being paid to watch paint dry or anything equivalent of watching paint dry.

Tanya was going to make herself disappear even if the authorities announced her escape. Due to the circumstances, it was even easier. However, Tanya wanted to have a bit of fun before she left. As long as she didn't put herself in danger, she would turn foes into corpses and profit off them.

The organs were preserved in formaldehyde. The conception was simple. Once the ritual was preformed, manna could solidify in a strange form at the center of the magic circle. Anyone who touched it would be made ageless or "immortal" as some texts had claimed. It could be saved in a form using glass and could be preserved for as much as three decades as long as it comes into contract with no water or other solids.

Any magical expert would be able to recognize physical manifestation of mana. Unlike her operation orb, it was metastable not stable. Up until the Elenium 95, physical manifestation of mana in a stable state was thought to be impossible. This could let Tanya live comfortably for a long time.

"Are we ready?" said Tanya.

"I placed the materials into the correct position. You are the one who did the studying, so your drew the circle, the signs, and are doing the manna control" said Weiss.

"We are ready to make minor adjustments to the manna flow" said Viktoriya. In theory this was a solo job, but having extra people could help make the ritual go right instead of creating duds if the flow went incorrectly and Tanya didn't observe in time to make corrections.

Tanya read some pre-written script and activated manna flow. The magic circle and the inscriptions started to glow. Lightning struck the center and wind started blowing around ominously.

Five minutes in and the hard part was complete. All Tanya had to do was maintain the same output she started with for 20 minutes; there were no more fluctuations to deal with. Thankfully, unlike trying to get the Elenium 95 orb in synchronization, there was little risk of exploding. The biggest danger was the consumption of the materials she gathered. Tanya was willing to do this for 2 more tries if she had to.

But she didn't have to do it again. It was complete. "This one job means that we can live a good life, even in obscurity, for a long time" said Tanya, marveling at the glowing cylinder. Suddenly Tanya stumbled forward and tripped, touching it. "Shit"

But nothing happened. "What happened? The signature does look like you created what we thought we made" said Weiss.

"According to the texts, it should have been absorbed inside you. The only time it can come into a contact with a human and do nothing is…" said Viktoriya.

"If the subject is already immortal" finished Tanya. Tanya remembered earlier the lights that surrounded her on the day she escaped from prison. Catching a reflection from equipment form a teammate, she saw that her eyes had the golden glow of Elenium 95 usage. It looked like the image of someone touching the mana and being made ageless. Being X had told Tanya just before her reincarnation that she would be subject to 1,000 subjective years of torture while all memory of her in the world was destroyed making it almost as if she never exsited unless she found faith or died of old age. Tanya touched the make-one-ageless manna by accident but it had no effect as if she was already ageless. Being ageless means dying a natural death is impossible "Curse you Being X!" screamed Tanya skyward.

Her former subordinates were shocked. They never say Tanya talking about a "Being X" before. "Tanya are you OK?" said Weiss.

"Weiss, Visha, you said you would follow me to the end of the Earth and put my happiness above the last of your reminaing family and contacts. Is this the case?" said Tanya.

"You've called me 'Visha' a lot since your rescue. About a third as often as you say 'Viktoriya' and you only called me 'Major' thrice since then" said Viktoriya.

"The General is an internationally condemned criminal and legally dead. If our relationship was only a work one, it would have been over. We are no longer commandeering officer and subordinates, but friends with mutual respect and one first among equals" said Weiss.

"Oh, so that's why she's gotten more affectionate" said Viktoriya.

"Since I'm legally dead until I forge some papers, I'm actually legally inferior to you, even if we all know what happened. I'm glad you didn't desert me when my commission was stripped. Come with me" said Tanya extending a hand.

"In our hearts, you will always be the general" said Weiss touching Tanya's smaller hand.

"I will follow you to the end of time General Deg… Tanya!" said Viktoryia extending her hand, which also was much larger than Tanya's. She enveloped Tanya's hand, grasping it.

"Thank you" said Tanya. Tanya removed Viktoryia's grip, turning the three hands into a simple touch and then pulled back. She tossed the glowing cylinder towards Viktoriya.

Viktoriya started to apparently float, bouncing off the ground ever so slightly. In truth, her effective weight was 1/30 of normal. Her body glowed. Parallel to the ground, two triangles of light formed, looking like the Star of David, until he next aprt. From the three tips of one triangle, located 120 degrees from each other, a purple thick substance emerged. They moved around Viktoriya three times, circling. Her arms were forced wide spread, like a T. It appeared as if a giant cylinder of glowing light enveloped her, with the star being a brighter light at the base. Her hair stood up. Then, it all disappeared.

"How do you feel?" said Weiss.

"Fine" said Viktoriya. Her hair moved a bit. "I heard you can use your hair as tentacle-like appendages for the rest of the day after this" she said, trying to hug the others with it.

"You can make it look like your hair does anything with basic telekinesis, but normally the force is too weak to do anything other than parlor tricks. In this case, your hair can actually move and lift things for some time, with some caveats. Your hair is too short to do anything really. And they still can't grip like a hand, limiting the ability to lift anything you can't grab" said Tanya.

…

Joubert (formerly Berun, formerly Hapsburg, formerly Berlin), Prussia 1931

Ambassador Shinotsuki had another busy had in the newly named city of Jovani. According to some newspapers, there was an angel of death going around continental Europe. Plenty of people were stabbed to death but some were poisoned, bludgeoned, dropped to death, and in the case of George Valois, there was an attempt at crusfication before simply stabbing. Most of the victims, especially in the successor states of the Empire, were known to be criminals since a large number of them were killed in the middle of a burglary. Some were actually interrupted muggings, but the witnesses all claimed they had no idea who killed their assailant.

There was a rumor going around that on each time this happened, a young blond girl could be seen leaving the scene of crime with an innocent smile. Shinotsuki listened to several rumors and decided this description was similar to the late Lieutenant General Tanya Degurechaff, but dismissed them. This was probably a lookalike. In fact, the Republic soldiers executed one lookalike in Bavaria not too long ago, sometimes dubbed "the false Tanya." Only three of those incidents had happened since that execution and given the heightened alertness, the rumor mill probably took any blond long haired individual as part of this, so there would be some false alarms after the culprit was stopped. "Blond girl" wasn't even an official description of the suspect.

The ambassador was extremely sad to see the young girl be put up for a frame up and sentenced to life imprisonment. Ambassador Shinotsuki was pretty sure she knew the entity as Tanya Degurechaff inside and out. She was a talented mage and given the glory of the named mages, or perhaps simply thinking volunteers get treated better than the conscripts, left her orphanage. Tanya had shown accelerated intellectual development and passed the officer tests and got admitted in OCS. Despite all that, she was just an innocent girl at heart and didn't belong on the frontlines. This was made abundantly clear when she came to the embassy in her war college days and later in the final dying days of the Empire. Intellectually, she was up to the job, but Tanya was basically a little girl. If Shinotsuki was the Kaiser, Tanya would be given a job at the Rhine Front headquarters. She would be out of immediate danger, but could put her intellect to some use, so only some of the potential is wasted. And it could be argued that rather than wasting some of her talent, this would be maturing her for a later time. Of course, ambassadors to other countries don't call the shots.

With so many plagues, the city was almost a ghost town. It could be divided into seven clusters where activity level was similar to pre-war and the rest were fairly sparsely inhabited. Many of the embassy staff was dead. The ambassador was likely to be reassigned from Prussia to Austria sometime next year.

The ambassador came into the ramen shop inside the same building as the embassy. She saw three figures clad in old imperial uniforms under large cloaks that appeared to let the wind through. It was an odd choice to wear cloaks that don't keep out the wind.

"This isn't too bad for an exotic meal" said a male voice.

"Are you saying our cuisine is going to be like this in the future?" said a female voice.

"This is just one kind" said a third voice.

"I liked this, but what about sausages and other foods rom around here?" said the first voice.

"There are western-style restaurants on the Japan archipelago. They are decently common as long as you aren't in the boondock areas. Anyways, they are much more common than Japanese restaurants here. This is the only one I've seen in the Empire and it is in fact supposed to be for homesick embassy workers, Imperial subjects are a periphery customer group that makes less than 1/8 of the customers I've seen. So you won't be missing food" said the third voice. It sounded like a child "Meet you later" said the voice as the figure made a wave to those leaving. Wait a minute, it sounded like a voice that Ambassador Shinotsuki knew.

The voice sounded like a child with a minor lisp in her voice. The figure was certainly small. The ambassador moved closer and changed her angle so that she was looking at the person eating the meal rather than to the side. The hat worm cast a shadow over the figure's face, but it was still visible. Long blond hair sat on a rounded feminine face. "Lieutenant General Tanya von Degurechaff?" said Ambassador Shinotsuki.

The girl looked up, changing angle and giving the ambassador a clear view of her face, no longer obscured by shadow or the somewhat messy hair. "Long time no see Shinotsuki-san, ambassador to the Empire. I am no longer a general on the account of that who trial thing" said Tanya, switching to Japanese. The girl should be in the bloom of adolescence especially since girls mature faster, but she still had the physique of a child.

"And I am no longer an ambassador to the Empire" said the ambassador.

"I was planning on meeting you the next day anyways. I think you might be sympathetic to my plight" said Tanya.

"I could hear your story. Do you want to come over to my house after work? I can provide you some food afterwards" said Ambassador Shinotsuki. Tanya's face gave away an expression of joy and anticipation before returning to a more neutral stance.

Tanya started her story from an apparent beginning. It was about that fateful day in Norden when she became a hero. Apparently, she was not quite as fearless as Imperial Propaganda made her out to be and she feared she would die that day. Tanya considered her odds of surviving three years to be greater by deserting and running from the military police than trying to follow the impossible orders. But she couldn't disappoint the other Imperials and lose her commission, so she tried her best to dodge and fight back until she was finally overpowered. She failed her orders to hold for 10 minutes, but she did get 4 confirmed and 2 unconfirmed kills, leading to being praised and awarded.

Going through the events of the war, it was as Ambassador Shinotsuki had suspected that the girl was in danger much more than she really ought to be. While her bravery was genuine after the Rhine Theatre days, it was still hiding a subtle fear of death. In some sense, some of the girl's extreme patriotism was a desire to be praised for her achievements.

Then came the end. The Empire was in its dying ethos with much of the world bearing down on it. There was the humiliation of the Treaty of Copenhagen, signed in the capital where the Entente once had its capital when it was a kingdom, in the days before the Empire took control over it as a buffer zone. There was little recourse for the defeated. All attempts to invoke precedent of defeated countries from the past wars failed. Part of this was due to the sheer suffering all sides had during the war, which each side only cared about its own. Officially the dismembering came due to the fact that the Empire was a de facto state with no right to exist, having been recognized by less than 5 countries in the world. This included the Allied Kingdom, acting as mediator, and the Entente, the ones who accidentally started the war, but not the Republic, America, Illoda, and others. Tanya was made a scapegoat for the sufferings of the war. The trial was a sham and innocent Tanya was condemned for life. However, she did escape the prison.

"Were you responsible for the recent… well you see a lot of people had died in mysterious circumstances recently. Officially there are no suspects, but when I go into bars or other places that won't talk to the press sometimes I heard about your description" said the ambassador.

"I did spend some time avenging myself" said Tanya.

"You…" said the ambassador pausing. The girl's eyes didn't change too much when giving that statement. "Honestly, all the high profile victims were hardly saints. For every low profile victim, I heard either no description or it was a reported vigilante killing of a crime in progress. Assuming the Republic doesn't get destabilized as a direct result of this or its destabilization doesn't hurt the stability or economy of other countries you probably did Europe a favor. But there is something that isn't quite right"

"I summarized what happened up to the present for me, with heavier details on what happened since the last time I saw you. This included the court of hypocrites and my escape. And for you?" said Tanya.

"Ah, it has mostly been dealing with chaos. According to my subordinates, applications for visas to the Akitsushima Imperium went down, even taking into consideration the population drop. Not too many people are interested in tourism I guess. We did have 30 weird families who actually wanted to move there. province of Manchuria is cold and only we control the mineral rich regions. As for Japan, the original archipelago, aside family ties through marriage, I don't see why any European would actually want to live there. It's true the Empire or rather Prussia turned into a less than desirable place to live for those who have no family left" said the ambassador.

"That's an understatement" said Tanya.

"But I would imagine the Entente or Allied Kingdom offer better refuge. Or perhaps that new Grand Duchy of Warsaw"

"Well, in my case, I think the Akitsushima Imperium might be a better refuge than Warsaw. I think I prefer German food to the cuisine over Polish cuisine" said Tanya.

"Well, a lot of people like the food of the country we originated from. I've heard of you eating sausages and stuff, but sauerkraut seems to be one I never heard you had in your war college days. I guess even among Imperials it's not universally loved" said the ambassador. The ambassador then went off on a tangent about home and familylfie, including a little bother back at home. "I noticed you always come over to my house whenever I offer dinner. I should let you know I'm not the best chief in Prussia"

"To me, you are one of the top thousand" said Tanya warmly, inching closer to the kitchen. Ambassador Shinotsuki instinctively gave the girl a short hug.

"Oh sorry about that"

"It's OK. I don't mind the hug, although I might not feel the same level of affection your brother might when you do the same to him" said Tanya.

…

After a dinner, Tanya asked about the families that moved over. "Well, aside from the visa application, there is a specialized process for getting citizenship. We are a relatively insular country. We don't want foreigners to come over and have a large number of descendants who vote and dilute political control, so the process is fairly stringent, even for those born on our soil but were born from foreigners. So there is a large trail of paperwork

"Aside from visa applications, what forms did they have to fill for putting their identities in the system of the Akitsushima Imperium? Where are those documents found?" said Tanya.

"The visa application form is in the embassy. The residency form has some cross talk with existing bureaus since the local agencies need to know not only when foreigners come, but mostly they receive people from other municipalities. The system is somewhat decentralized, so in some sense from each local agency, newcomers from within and without are basically generate de novo identities on the local records, with the information ultimately coming from their counterparts from where the person moved from or the national records for foreigners. It reminds me of the case of Amatsuka Megumi who was found at age 10 which was 3 years after her disappearance. It took another 3 years to link her to her family, which was a bit surprising given their wealth. The sotry of her records and idneitity is a bit of a humerous story, although the girl's story itself is sad" said the adult.

"Interesting. Tell me more about this story…" said Tanya.

The ambassador spoke at great length about this. That person continued the story while the mind was wondering looking at Tanya. During the war, Tanya killed for her side like a normal soldier, but contrary to expectations for a girl her age. The ambassador felt Tanya could be sized up. She was a combination of innocence with ego and ecompetence. The villigante killing spree was not due to the loss of Tanya's purity but simply herself being deluded into thinking the real world had a clear cut right and wrong sides. Some of it was due to Imperial properganda. However, that person had to admit, the Republic using illegal partisans disguised as civilians, the outcry of Arene at the death of the civilians and the "civilians," the whole world barreling down on the Empire for taking buffer zones after defending its rightful boarders, and then the whole shame trial gave Tanya a good reason to think so. Well, the Norden area arguably was a land grab by the Empire since it was part of the Kingdom of Denmark which the Entente considered itself a successor to. The Empire conspired since Denmark no longer had a divinely ordained monarch and its last monarch did not give concenter for the Entente to take the territory, the territory started with the Entente, but anyone who could take military control over it was entitled to use it either as a bargaining chip or simply sizing control of the place. One of the many Treaties of Londinium decided the Empire had administrative rights and ability to station troops there, giving de facto control, but left the de jure question unanswered. The ambassador also thought the Republic was clearly in the wrong for civilian clad combatants. That person could see that Tanya had a good reason to think morality was pure and killing of evil was just, but that would be about the same as concluding that most Yamato Japanese could speak German based on having conversations with the embassy workers. The conclusions looked right, but they just were not true. The ambassador realized the story was almost finished while on autopilot.

"I'm glad Megumi ojou-sama was reunited with her family" said Tanya.

"Is the probably of me seeing you again above 1/30 of 1%?" said the ambassador. Tanya shook her head apparently sadly. "I can make some leftovers for you"

"Can I have some rice wine?" said Tanya.

The ambassador considered. There were many reasons to not give Tanya any alcohol. First of all, this was illegal. Children being lighter means a single drink is a heavier impact. Also, children have underdeveloped livers and brains, both of which are sensitive to alcohol damage at a dose per kilogram a third of that of adults. Ambasador Shinotsuki considered that Tanya might not live long.

The Allied Kingdom was the mediator and garunteer of the Treaty of Copenhagen. This probably means that not only are Republic agents after Tanya once her escape was a success, probably the Allied Kingdom Special Air Service were coming too. She meant the assassination arm, not the ones tied to army units. No one can survive long if they are wanted dead by the Allied Kingdom unless a country is actively giving them refuge. No country would give Tanya Degurechaff refuge and any country would probably turn her over if they knew where she was. Without an active protector, even if her host country was willing to turn a blind eye her only hope was if the Republic, America, and the Russy Union were the only ones trying to kill her and the Allied Kingdom neglected its duties as the guarantee-er of the Treaty of Copenhagen. Since the trial was accepted on treaty grounds, it follows any convicts are also valid, at least in a legal sense if not factual innocence sense. Therefore Tanya Degurechaff's days were likely numbered. Wine might not be good for Tanya if she lived another three years, but there probably isn't another three years.

"I don't bring rice wine. I do have grape wine. I can give you my three favorite flavors of red wine. Be careful with the dose, your body is light meaning there is a limit on how much you can have. I know you took biology courses at war college as non-military electives, so you know how body mass relates to drug response" said Ambassador Shinotsuki.

After giving Tanya some parting gifts, the ambassador paused. There was the temptation to tell Tanya that the wine was basically being treated as a last man's request or last girl's request in this case. Tanya knew enough about death for this not to be too sugarcoated. Instead, Ambassador Shinotsuki simply patted Tanya on the head and wished her luck. Keeping Tanya out of the loop kept her innocent for a few more weeks, but it might mean she doesn't get to make the last usage of her remaining days.

…

Viktoriya Ivanovna Serebryakov had finished making last minute talks with some members of the former Imperial Army she knew. Johan Wiess and Tanya von Degurechaff both suggested in the bringing that all contact with people should be avoided unless their faces were concealed. Viktoriya mentioned that this only applied to people who were likely to expose them. While a lot of foreigners especially in the republic can be counted to raise the alarm, Imperials could likely be asked to simply keep a secret. Top secrecy wasn't necessary, only plausible deniability. In short, stories going to the authorities and the press were obviously bad, but unconfirmed stories going around the population was ok.

Tanya explained the expendability of certain classes of witnesses. The Republic military could be considered up for grabs given their hypocrisy concerning holding the Empire responsible for breaking the spirit of the rules of war, while they broke the letter of the law many times. Besides, the first time the Empire did so, the shelling of Arene, was in direct response to illegal use of "civilians" as combatants. And if they the Republic really wanted to save their civilians, they had plenty of time but chose to use that time killing prisoners. Even Tanya had hesitated to follow her orders before seeing this.

A Kingdom with a divinely ordained king had generally been recognized to usually make the correct decisions unless the Lord had forsaken the kingdom as a whole. This line of reasoning had only been questioned in the last three hundred years and in a lot of conservative places, it was deemed true even after some thought. In the successor states, a lot of people thought the lord had forsaken the Empire and Europe.

In a republic, the legislature is responsible for the voters' will. Therefore, unless a legislator made action in direct contradiction to his campaign promises, he could be considered the will of his district. Actions he makes that are known, even if he didn't promise them, could be considered the will of his district as they obviously tolerate this action. Unknown actions could be considered their responsibility depending on the probability of it happening based on precedent. Responsibility in an open ballot republic falls to the voters themselves, as a whole if the government vote in a majority government, or for the specific voters who voted for the ones in power if the winner only needed something like 42%. Anyone who voted for George Valois's party, when the PM ran on an election promise of "Make the Empire Pay," and none of his MPs publically or privately protested, could be killed with no guilt whatsoever. Viktoriya admitted to herself she might have felt guilty before the Treaty of Copenhagen, but Tanya appealed to both this logical reasoning and Viktoriya's empathy with the suffering of her countrymen and successful won her over on this argument.

In a secret ballot system, those responsible for the geniuses (or jerkasses, morons, hypocrites and whatevers) are unknown. Anyone can take credit or deny. Tanya made this obscure reference to a "Richard Nixon" who won by a landslide and when enough voters were asked 3 years after his presidency if they voted for him, by random chance alone 3000 should have said yes but none of them admitted voting for him. Tanya quickly backed off from this fictitious example and turned to the Allied Kingdom Tory MP Harold Wilson (no relation to her lawyer) who won 3 elections, but when he was replaced with the charismatic niece Mary Wilson, 75% of people who were later asked who they voted for claimed they voted for Mary, the first female MP of the Commons for 30 years and fourth one ever. This was despite her winning only 1/8 of the votes. First past the post can do some weird things, particularly when five people of the same political party run for the same position and the party elders don't order all but on to back out as they usually do.

.Tanya was not quite as stealthy as she initially hoped for and admitted that going around unseen is different that killing mages in the field. Witnesses were usually dealt with by going around with the zone of truth and questioning them from angles where people and the interrogated subject could not see them.

Sometimes, they could not stealthily trace down a witness before the witness came close to telling someone. These were usually shot before their culpability of getting certain MPs in power could be known.

Once in Bohemia, Tanya made a killing of one of the architects of the Treaty of Copenhagen. There were three witnesses to their escape from the crime scene. Tanya appeared to seriously consider silencing them and floated the idea of comparing the witnesses to those in other countries whose voting patterns could not be verified. Weiss pointed out that just because a person left a crime scene 20 minutes after it occluded with blood on their attire did not automatically make them the culprit. Viktoriya pointed out that they did let a minority witnesses who saw the trio thesmelves, but not them committing the vengeance assassinations or vigilante killings, alive. These people had not exposed them. Whenever their voting patterns were confirmed to not bring in the revanchist factions, they were let go like a fisherman and a small fry and only one of these released people needed to be terminated for Tanya' secrecy. Former Imperials would likely be more sympathetic to their cause. She also reminded Tanya they left seven ex-Imperial civilians who saw them clear as day and who recognized them three days after her escape and only six of them were drunk.

Tanya looked at Viktoriya and mentioned Viktoriya looked somewhat troubled. Tanya then agreed with the line of reasoning of Viktoriya. This gave Viktoriya visible relief and chided herself for thinking Tanya would consider indiscriminately silencing all witnesses. Tanya added that given the highly Catholic nature of the Empire, even more so than Europe in general, and the fact that the Republic crucified her in Berun publically and the rumors they did so during her escape, the locals might see her presence as a sign the Lord had not forsaken the Empire and this was only a temporary crisis. Up until the day the Empire lost, Viktoriya was convinced that Tanya was the apostle of god and would save them and there would be some last minute reverse. She wondered privately if after the incident in Berun, in the minds of the masses Tanya became the personification of the defunct Empire more so than the head of state Charles X. Weiss talked to the witnesses personally afterwards and they were reassured that they would tell no one, or if anyone had loose lips at a bar it would be limited to unconformable rumors with plausible deniability.

Viktoriya found Tanya at the assigned meeting place in a special garden outside an embassy. There some plants from the orient, including three cherry blossom trees. They were not in bloom. Viktoriya read that their flowing time was fairly short. She heard Tanya singing a melancholic song in English. It was the principal language used in the Allied Kingdom and it was the language that was displacing Latin as the catch all "foreign scientists talk to each other" language. It was mistakenly believed by Americans to be the universal language that everyone could understand with sufficient volume.

It was language highly favored by Charles the Pious, Charles the English, Charles rapier of Slavs, or Charles von Hapsburg heir presumptive to the Holy Roman Empire and Austria and the future Charles VIII. He made sweeping administrative, agricultural, and legal reforms. The tax per capita tripled under his reign and the land mass grew. The crowning achievement was the open secret of controversially bribing the kings and princes of the Holy Roman Empire causing the Imperial Diet to unanimously without coercion approve the Holy Roman Empire plus the Hapsburg crownlands (even those outside the HRE) from a federation and some isolated kingdoms into a new unitary state. Despite being raised in the Italian Peninsular, Charles VIII spoke English as a first language and didn't learn his second, German, until he was an adolescent and heir presumptive.

Charles VIII had cordial relations with Great Britain, and knew that most of the other states did not want to accept a new power on the continent. Illoda, the Republic and the Turkman Duchies got a trashing at the hands of the reformed Holy Roman Empire (new name pending) trying to stop the formation and had given massive reparations and the Republic gave many colonies, including a key port in the Indian Ocean, one in the Pacific, and one in Eastern Africa, giving the new state newfound monetary wealth and control of many of the world's trade routes. The Republic issued a statement that not only had the union of Prussia and Austria under a common crown was illegal (a reason at that time had not been supplied about the illegality) but Charles VIII, Holy Roman Emperor had no right to bring the superseding states into direct control, therefore he only had de jure control over Austria. Nevermind Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia which were also part of personal unions that the Republic didn't even dispute. Almost every country in a world with an elected legislature endorsed the Republic view, although only some issued it as a resolution from the nations themselves instead of merely the legislature. Three years after the war the new unitary state had a new name in the form of the "Empire" in English chosen by Charles VIII instead of the German translation "Reich." The next month he was able to get a formal declaration from his cousin's country, Great Britain, to approve of the right of the Empire to exist as a state, although the parliament added a caveat that while the unification and centralization was legitimate in principal, specific details about the boarders of the country may or may not be "right" until its dissolution, it was one of a number of single digit countries recognized its existence.

Tanya seemed to skip around the lines of the song instead of singing continuously. "Let us move forward, don't look behind" "Go ahead keep shooting with that ray gun, fight!" "that bouquet that surrounds is iron poison see" sang the little girl.

"Are you singing in English?" said Viktoriya.

"Yes. It is a translation sung by Lizz-chan. I never met her, but I heard it once in Boston with Miyuki… oh right. What am I saying, Takeda Miyuki only exists in my memories. The lyrics are not identically translated from the original, but it translates some lines and keeps the meaning in the others and the number of syllables match. I tried to do a German version, but while I was able to do a good translation of the first verse and chorus with syllable compatibility, I could not find a translation of the rest of the song with the right syllable numbers or even one that significantly changes the words and keep the meaning. In some sense, the English version the girl sang had the music more closely match with the lyrics that the upbeat original. One never really realize how sad it is in Japanese cause it's so upbeat. Then again, it would not be the first song in the world to have the lyrics be at a dissonance to its melody. It is called Senbonzakura" said Tanya.

"Thousands of cherry blossoms?" said Weiss gesturing towards the cherry blossom trees.

"Close, I'm impressed Weiss. It is actually somewhat of a non-sense word by taking actual words and deleting the spaces. Where did you pick it up?" said Tanya.

"I have picked bits and pieces of Japanese from the embassy workers and asked some people around what certain objects, or in this case trees, were. I lucked out on the trees. I noticed close to the end of the war you spent a considerable amount of time there. I spent a week here before going to Schugel manor. I guessed that this was your refuge destination, although I would have suggested someplace else. India is a well-developed subcontinent in three enclaves. The Allied Kingdom has a great colony on the West coast of Africa, south of one of the Empire's own. America is always called a land of opportunity and we might even meet some of the girls who were… given arranged marriages. In the case of the Enlgihs speaking countires, two of us can speak in bits and know most nouns and one of us knows. The Akimtusma Imperium's only advantage is that in 3 decades their standard of living would probably on par with America but they are really far away from the warring parties. None of us know the language there, unless you count ordering ramen noodles" said Weiss.

"Actually, one of us does know the language there, although I heard Ambassador Shinotsuki say my accent was somewhat difficult to understand. *grumble.* Native speaker shouldn't *grumble* I think without my lisp I speak better than her, I mean even her rising *grumble* did you listen to recordings from the Akitsushima Imperium? It is more like Meiji era speech than normal speech" said Tanya.

"We leave in seven days?" said Viktoriya.

"Ah sorry, I was talking to myself. I had been doing that more since the end of the war. Less of being oblivious to it as somehow not caring at times when express my thoughts and then remembering soon after why we internalize them. Affirmative. Visha, Johan, I'll let you send letters back once we get a stable address. Although I understand Weiss no longer has anyone to send them back to" said Tanya.

…

Tokyo, Akitsushima Imperium 1932

The trio had been in the country for a week. They avoided contract with the locals except when strictly necessary. Tanya gathered the paperwork necessary for future identity forging. Tanya had been busy sneaking and the others often had to spend hours without her. Now they were going North to the Sendai area to a hopefully permanent settlement.

"I miss home" said Visha.

"I know what you mean. And I… almost can feel for you. I know what it is like. Being thrown into a random country where you can't speak the language and your life and fate is entirely in the hands of another person whose personal life is somewhat of a mystery. Well in my case, she was completely a mystery at first. The food is strange and you can't communicate" said Tanya.

"When did that happen?" said Viktoriya.

"Back in the orphanage in Berun when I was three months old" said Tanya.

"I can't think of anyone 4 or older who remembers their first year of life. I can't think of anyone 10 or older who remembers their first three years. Thanks" said Viktoriya giggling and instructively petting Tanya's head. This gesture of affection was something that would be awkward years ago but somehow became ok.

"Hmmm, it doesn't look like she made it up to make you feel better" said Weiss. Given all the feats Tanya pulled off at a young age and the Lord apparently favoring her in many cases except the war's ultimate victor, he considered the possibility she was self-aware in her first year of life unlikely but plausible. Tanya's statement of mostly matter of fact lined with just a touch of self-pity promoted this idea from unlikely to "more likely than a scrawny old ex fighter beating a muscular man three weight classes above him in a wrestling match."

"Our new life isn't going to be glorious, but here we are. I would have preferred winning the war than coming here, despite the better food here" said Tanya.

* * *

Author's Note: Merry Christmas!

Yay done with Chapter 3! I'll clean up the bits of the chapter and then work on the next one. Given I didn't get chapter 3 for Christmas, I'm sure that will fall behind schedule too.

Next, we go into the future with LN Chapter 5 serving a bit as a base with investigators in the reunified Empire (missing Norden and some minor territories) triyng to piece together the Eleventh Goddess.

I'm a bit disappointed that I still have some typos. I also tried to develop Weiss, but I got a mindblock, so I haven't moved beyond making him observant, unlike the time in cannon he got himself shot due to trying so hard to avoid his past mistake that he forgot to dodge.


End file.
